Hey all,
I have a bit of a conundrum here. When I start my morning, I like making a smoothie or fruit slush, really depends on if I have oat milk available in the fridge at the end of the day.
I usually have frozen strawberries as my go to for this. However, I don’t know if they grow here or not because whenever I go to the store, the frozen ones are never a product of Canada. I want to put a stronger focus on spending my money on products that are a product of Canada so that my money stays here and has more of an impact locally, but usually the only frozen fruit I can find readily available from here are blueberries.
I have a weird hatred of blueberries. I hate them raw because to me they taste like nothing, and the texture combined with the lack of flavour feels gross, but I also tend to dislike them in my smoothies and slushes because they never seem to blend as well as strawberries do, often leaving a grainy texture I can’t ignore. I only ever seem to enjoy them when baked into things like pies or muffins.
Not to force myself to have something I dislike, but I don’t want to give up trying to make them enjoyable and give them the fair chance they deserve. Aside from baking them into things, what are some ways I can attempt to make blueberries more palatable?
Also is there a way I can get them to blend as smoothly as strawberries do for my slushes and smoothies?
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Try cooking them. The flavour and texture changes. If that doesn’t work I would look for other fruit. There are many frozen fruit choices and lots are non USA at least.
You might find wild blueberries a better alternative. Smaller, sweeter and tastier. I know our Food Basics sells them frozen at the same price as regular frozen fruit (not all places do), but fresh are always seasonal, and pricey.
Funny you mention this, I noticed that there were the frozen blueberries and frozen wild blueberries at Real Canadian Superstore yesterday, and was wondering what the difference was. I know Loblaws is far from ideal, but at the very least they were grown here.
Blueberries aren’t my favorite either but they’re healthy and I’ve come to really enjoy a blueberry smoothie/slush if it’s a third frozen pineapple and I use some pomegranate juice as part of the liquid.
I think part of why the combination works is the acidity, blueberry needs a bit of a boost in the tanginess department. Probably why blueberry + lemon is a common pairing in pastry.
Hadn’t noticed a texture issue, you might benefit from a more powerful blender to more completely annihilate them
That’s wild. I love blueberries. Specifically the slightly pinkish tart ones those are very different than the mushy sweet ones. So maybe there’s a different type of blueberry you would like. That’s beside the point though.
You can pair blueberry with peanut butter pretty easily so throw a huge amount of peanut butter in there and then some blueberry and other stuff and you’re not going to taste very much of it I do that frequently.
Do they have raspberry+peach in the frozen section? I used to always use a strawberry base but discovered peach works well for me too. Just a small amount of frozen raspberries give it a nice zing. Blueberries never blend smooth for me either. I prefer them fresh or in cream.
Good call, might check if there’s peaches in the frozen section as well.
Used to have a gripe with peaches when I was younger since I grew sick of them from us having them so often. Was never about the taste itself more than it was how often we had it.
I hope you aren’t tired of them permanently! Try a sprinkle of nutmeg in it too
Peaches would likely be product of USA no?
Canada grows peaches! Mostly in Ontario
Oh cool good to know, I’ll have to check the label on the stuff locally
Smoothie recipe:
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Apple’s (lots of them)
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Water
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Maple syrup
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Ginger (only part not Canadian I’ve yet to find a replacement)
Blueberries and strawberries mix horribly in a smoothie. Never do 50/50 here if need to use both.
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Raspberries (and blackberries but those are thornier) grow rampant in most southern-mid parts of Canada and produce WAY more berries WAY easier than strawberries FWIW. I’ve never found strawberries to be worth the effort myself.
If you have a balcony with room for a couple bucket sized planters you could ask around for a couple shoots this spring and have a decent supply all summer. Or if you have a small yard or more with space for a single planter bed you’d likely have unlimited summer raspberries (plus freezing) for very minimal effort. You can pick em all summer long
Thanks! I might give this a shot, especially since we have a seed library where I live.
This might be a long shot but have you tried fresh (as in not frozen) whole blueberries in a bowl of milk? It’s one of those things that sounds super weird until you try it. I have no idea how it happens, but the milk brings out a great sweet flavor from the bloobs. And as you eat it, that flavor gets concentrated, so the last few spoonfuls are the BEST.
I’m lactose intolerant, but I can try giving this a shot with some oat milk. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hate to say it because Canadian fresh blueberries aren’t very available right now, but frozen blueberries taste different to me than fresh… all the small ones seem to end up there from my impressions of eating them, while I like the bigger blueberries more. Also, in smoothies I don’t put more than a pinch of them (7-10) because it turns the smoothie very purple and takes away from the rest of the fruits I add.
If you want something better to pair it with, try plain yoghurt? I think the mild sweetness of blueberries could be brought out better when paired with a more sour taste.
I’d love to add yogourt, but unfortunately I’m lactose intolerant. Thanks for the suggestion though! Assuming I can find frozen peaches that are grown here, I might consider this and throw a few in rather than make them the main star.
