Disappointing blueberries

[moria923]

Blueberries are one of the things I look forward to about summer. Not only are they delicious, but I'm sentimental about them: when I was growing up, we would sometimes visit my aunt, who had a farm with lots of blueberries. Of course you can get them all year long now, but I'm certainly not paying $2.50 for a 4-ounce package

Comments

[tigerbright]

Alton Brown actually talked about the problems with winter blueberries on the appropriate episode of Good Eats. Apparently they simply don't travel well.

The frozen wild blueberries from TJ's or Costco work really well for baking and sauces, though.

[teddywolf]

We keep a supply of those frozen wild blueberries at home. The flavor would not be as strong as fresh summer blueberries, but they do have the aroma.

[magickcat]

Thirded. I LOVE blueberries, and although I usually LOVE the quality of most fresh produce at TJ's, I had a similar experience with their blueberries recently.
Not for nothing, but you could try dropping them a line about it. They DO seem to be really good about addressing customer concerns whether they can actually remedy them or not.
I had a rather expensive problem due to one of their products a few years ago. I let them know about it, and they actually sent me a gift card.

[spinrabbit]

It's unlikely that your disappointing blueberries were previously frozen -- frozen-and-thawed blueberries are leaky and deflated but flavorful if you started with good blueberries, and because they're leaky once thawed their shelf life would be ridiculously short. Out-of-season blueberries that were maybe picked before they were properly ripe or maybe just shipped around refrigerated too much are mealy and not very sweet, but still round and watertight.

[lyonesse]

i've been eating those -- they're not bad in yogurt with a bit of maple syrup, to my mouth. better as an ingredient than on their own, for sure.