Even if you grow blueberries and look forward to the harvest, there are many people who have had a sour and bad experience when eating.
Blueberries are “sweet” and “delicious”, but their attractiveness is influenced by the timing of harvesting fruits. People who feel sour or not sweet are harvesting in a state that is not yet ripe. （Blueberries will not continue to ripe after harvest.）
This time, I will introduce “the best timing of blueberries picking from the change in color of fruit skin and stem“.
[Key points to know maturity]
- Even though the blueberry’s peel color turns blue, it is still not sweet.
- About seven days after the entire fruit surface is dyed blue, it becomes a standard for picking.
- When it is sweet ripe, the contact part between the fruit and the fruit stem is dyed purple.
Characteristics of blueberry ripening
Blueberries are fruit trees that are difficult to harvest. (The method of growing is also a strong character.)
Because blueberry fruit has the following characteristics.
- Each fruit from a bunch does not ripe at the same time. (change color into pieces）
- After the harvest is not ripening.It will not become sweet. (Sweetness does not become strong)
Unlike grapes and tomatoes, we’ve never heard of blueberries of harvesting with bunches. Although it is possible to harvest all at once, it is very troublesome.
The reason is that the each fruit inside a bunch of the blueberries will ripe and color to pieces.
Blueberries are not ripe at the same time
The reason for ripening apart like this is that individual flowers in the bunch of flowers bloom and pollinate at the respective timing in March and April. The flowering period is 2 to 3 weeks, which is the difference of timing when this period matures.
Because of this, when picking blueberries there is troublesome, but it is necessary to harvest individually while grasping the ripening condition for each grain.
And one more important thing, even though blueberries are harvested and kept for a while, they do not become ripe and sweet.
This is a characteristic of fruit so there’s nothing I can do about it. For example, grapes, apples and watermelons will not get sweet after waiting a few days after harvest. But bananas, kiwis and oranges will be sweet and delicious if they are kept properly. That’s how it is with plant.
Blueberries are the most delicious when harvested. So it is important to understand the state of fruits that are properly ripe.
How to know the state of unripe, ripe, overripe
I will show you two photos in a row, so please think about whether it is ripe.
What are your thoughts on that? Do you know which blueberries of upper and lower photos are ripe? By the way, it does not matter that the fruit is whitish (light blue). There may be some people who imagine a deep blue (dark blue) as a blueberry, but in fact there are many such light blue varieties on trees. What looks whitish is called bloom powder, it also serves as a measure of freshness. (It is not pesticide. My blueberries are perfect organic fruits.)
Well I will answer.
The upper blueberries are ripe, the lower blueberries are unripe and you should wait a few more days.
The point to look at is the contact part between the fruit skin and the stem. It is evidence that the whole fruit is sweet and tasty if this point changes from green to blue or purple.
I created an illustration to make it easier to understand.
Of course, You know that the whole state of ① is green, it is not yet ripe.
However, perhaps there are more people who are harvesting in the next state ②. At this point it is still not sweet and sour blueberries. Even if the fruit skin is dyed blue, if the stem is green, it is still not sweet.
The state of ③ is ripe and tasty. Let’s harvest at this timing.
The color of the fruit is almost the same as that of ②, but the boundary between the fruit and the stem is changed to a dark purple color. In this state the whole fruit can be sweet and eat delicious. Also, there is little resistance when picking by hand.
④ is the state that are too ripe. The color of the fruit will also be slightly darker than the ripe state, and the entire stem will turn to purple. A little harvest is delayed.
In the number of days it will be about 5 to 7 days from ② to ③. (Supplementary Explanation, Rabbiteye Blueberry has a period of red coloring between ① and ② like rabbit eye. Of course it is immature.)
Please look at the following example after knowing this method of assessment. What you pay attention to is the boundary with the fruit stem.
Attention to ripe too much
There are also people who like overly ripe blueberries, it is certainly overknowing that sourness is missing and the sweetness is felt strong. However, because it becomes a somewhat blurred taste, personally it is a fruit I want to avoid ripe too much.
Also, if you over-ripe the whole stem until it stains purple, if the strong wind blows, the fruit may fall due to the rubbing of the leaves.
In overripe state the skin is also becoming soft and the fruit juice tends to leak so it becomes easy to decay after harvesting. It is nice to eat yourself, but it would not be suitable for presenting to others.
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Finally. Practicality of this knowledge and how to eat
Well this time, I introduced about the ripening condition of blueberries and the best timing of picking from the color change of fruit skin and fruit stem.
However, although it is recommended to grow a few pots at home as a pleasure, this method is troublesome and can not be recommended if there is time limit of 30 minutes or one hour at the picking farm. In addition, when fruits are fruited so as to overlap each other, it is sometimes impossible to observe the state behind the fruit.
Therefore, please use this method as one criterion to know how much ripe blueberries in the bunches are ripe. (Depending on the variety, the color of the stem may not change easily.)
In fact, even if you pick blueberries carefully, you can get a lot from premature to overly ripe.
In such a case, not eating separately, but if you chew up about 10 grains of unripe, ripe and overripe, sweet and sour are spread in your mouth and you can eat deliciously. Also when processing into juice or jam, it becomes tasty when mixing unripe and overripe blueberry fruits.
