Shrivelled blueberries

Brian G Turner

Brian G Turner

Fantasist & Futurist
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So, I thought I'd aim to get more healthy by getting some frozen blueberries, with the aim of leaving some in the fridge overnight to defrost, then add them to my breakfast in the morning.

The only thing is - lots of them look shrivelled and unappetizing. This is both when frozen and after defrosting.

I wondered if maybe the freezing process might have done this, but I can't help but think that the shrivelled ones have something wrong with them and not good for eating.

Thoughts?

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Best not eat them
veganfoundry.com

My Blueberries Are Wrinkly: Are They Safe To Eat?

Not wasting fruit, especially berries, can be a real challenge, even with refrigerators on hand. If you have ever pulled out a punnet of blueberries and found that they’ve gone wrinkly, you might have wondered whether they are safe to consume. Blueberries will gradually shrivel up as they lose...
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I can't recall ever buying frozen berries, so I don't know if they're different. We buy fresh, usually when they're going cheap, then freeze them, so some punnets can be in the freezer for months on end, and I've never seen any looking like those, Brian. So I'm pretty sure it's not the freezing process itself, not in an ordinary freezer anyway, but rather they were substandard or old before being frozen.

I'd probably eat some of the plumper ones, but discard the very wrinkled ones. If there are a lot like that, take photos and your receipt if you've still got it and go and complain at the supermarket you bought them from.

By the way, no need to defreeze them overnight. I have 5 different frozen fruits on my home-made muesli most days (raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and hedgerow blackberries), and I just take out a few of each from the freezer, rinse them under the cold tap, then mix them straight in. I usually leave the muesli for about 20-30 mins anyway after pouring on the yoghurt and milk, to allow the oats to swell, and that's plenty long enough for the berries to be defrosted enough to eat.
 
I eat frozen blueberry's on occasion with Oatmeal. even it they a are a little wrinkly.
 
They are fine.
Simple explanation: frozen fruit becomes deformable.
More complex explanation: May have been frozen for a while. The ice crystals puncture the skin of the fruit, and the water content slowly sublimes, leaving a wrinkled fruit.
 
The last blueberry punnet I opened had pretty small and fairly hard fruit. But the same was true this year of the blackcurrants we had in the garden.
 
According to the fabulous webernut, there are at least 5, 15, to 150 different varieties of berries considered to be blueberries. I would imagine a lot of them are not even remotely connected to the original varieties except by the color of the berry. Some common types are lowbush, northern highbush, southern highbush, rabbiteye, and half-high. The bush size ranges from knee high to 8 feet tall. And the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all.

I like the blueberries from Maine, they are smaller and when from a can, all seem to be wrinkled.

A lot of interesting facts about blueberries once you start digging. Some are self pollinating while others can be cross pollinated by other varieties of blueberries which might account for the variance in size in some batches. Reasons for why blueberries look the way they do ranges from that's interesting to ick. The rule seems to be if it tastes good, eat it.
 
Brian G Turner said:
So, I thought I'd aim to get more healthy by getting some frozen blueberries, with the aim of leaving some in the fridge overnight to defrost, then add them to my breakfast in the morning.

The only thing is - lots of them look shrivelled and unappetizing. This is both when frozen and after defrosting.

I wondered if maybe the freezing process might have done this, but I can't help but think that the shrivelled ones have something wrong with them and not good for eating.

Thoughts?

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I freeze various berries, including blueberries, that I collect until I have enough for jam making (I don't grow enough bushes to typically get sufficient ripe ones in a single collection). The larger berries with outer skins like blueberries, rather than ones made of of multiple small elements (?) like raspberries, always seem to end up shrivelled and I've never worried about it. I think you'll find shrivelling caused by freezing and shrivelling caused by decomposition are too very different mechanisms as @hitmouse as stated.
 
At our house, we often eat dried blueberries (when it isn't dried cherries or cranberries) in our hot cereal, and like all dried fruit they are wrinkled and shrivelled. Quite tasty they are, too.

(If you put them in before you cook the cereal they soften and tend to plump up a bit.)
 
Cheers for the responses - I've ended up buying fresh instead now - had problems before with some of the frozen fruit going mouldy, so I feel more confident buying fresh. :)
 
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