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Blueberries, The King of the Antioxidants
Low in Calories, High in Nutrients, Help Protect Against Ageing and Cancer, Protect Cholesterol in the Blood, Help Prevent Heart Disease, May Lower Blood Pressure…………….
And they just taste plain good!
(Or good plain. Take your pick.)
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We recently spent some time out in Plant City, here in Florida, doing some berry picking and had a wonderful time! The four of us picked a total of just over 6 pounds of blueberry’s and we couldn’t wait to use them to create something delicious….. and we did!
Click Here for our: Blueberries, and the Blueberry Festival
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We have a few Blueberry Recipes that we are happy to bring to you. We’ll also be adding to this page as we go along.
And you know, you can just eat blueberries the way they are, or in breakfast cereal, or on pancakes, waffles, whatever you like. Just EAT them!
Julie and Gordon
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Our Blueberry/Guava Compote
Delicious and Ready to Share with Others
(See recipe below.)
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My Blueberry Bread w/ our Blueberry/Guava Compote
Recipe for the Blueberry Bread Below
The Blueberry Breads are Absolutely Beautiful!
Recipe for the Blueberry Compote, see below as well.
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Also our Blueberry/Guava Cobbler
(See Recipe Below)
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Our Blueberry Wines from Keel and Curley
that Inspired this Post
A little Blueberry Wine Tasting
Some of our delicious compote for us to eat immediately. 🙂
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Goat Cheese with the juice leftover from making our Blueberry/Guava Compote, and some freshly picked blueberries.
Delicious with some Copacola Ham and Merlot Cheese
My New Favorite Appetizer
The Copacola is a Spicy Italian Ham
A Beautiful Mess to eat with Crackers or Bread
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Our Blueberry / Guava Compote
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Water
4 – 10.38 oz. packages of Guava Paste
4 lbs. Fresh Blueberries
1/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp. Sugar
Zest of 2 Lemons
Zest of 2 Limes
Juice of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Lime
Guava Paste
(We purchased this Guava Paste at the Latin Supermarket but we have now seen it sold at the Dollar Store.)
Rinse your blueberries well, being sure to remove any leaves and stems.
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Gordon Ready to Start our Blueberry/Guava Compote
Great Taste Never Looked so Pretty
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Place 1 cup of water into a large pot, then add your packages of guava paste.
Heat the ingredients to medium heat.
As the ingredients heat, the paste will start to basically melt into a syrup like consistency.
Add the rest of the water as needed to make the mixture less syrupy and not so thick.
Use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients to keep the guava from burning.
Add 4 cups of blueberries to the pot and cook for about 10 min. or until they breakdown.
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Now add your sugar to the mixture.
Then the juice of a lemon and a lime.
Gordon Juicing the Citrus
Gordon Adding the Citrus Juice
(This is how we sometimes keep track of the amount of ingredients that we use when we create a recipe. Gordon will usually hold up his fingers or the food, or both, and I then photograph our little “codes.”)
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Taste the mixture and adjust the sugar if needed.
The Guava Paste already adds plenty of sweet to this compote.
Add the zest of 2 Lemons and 2 Limes.
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As the blueberries break down, the color within the pot will change as seen in the above, and below photos.
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Once the blueberries have broken down, add the rest of the blueberries and cook for another 5 min.
Remove the mixture off the heat and set aside.
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Now for the Canning
We actually did the canning the following day.
Once the Blueberry/Guava Compote was cooled, we placed it in the refrigerator overnight.
To start the canning process, sterilize your jars ahead of time in your dishwasher.
Remove the Jars but DO NOT TOUCH the INSIDES!
To sterilize your lids, add them to a pot of almost boiling water and simmer for 10 min.
If you heat them to the boiling point, the rubber gasket will melt, and not seal properly.
Using a funnel, add your now compote to the jars, leaving 1/2 inch space (headroom) to the top of the jar.
Fill all of your jars.
(If you do the canning immediately after the compote is ready you will not be able to hold the jars as you ladle in the compote. Only if the compote is cool can you do this.)
Wipe the top of the jars off with a clean disposable dish towel to create a good seal.
Then using a long stick magnet, place the lid on top of the jar.
It’s a Very Pretty Color, isn’t it?
Barely tighten the band on top of the lid.
If you tighten it too tight, the air will not be able to escape during the next process.
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Place water in a large pot about half way to the top.
Add your jars to the still cool water, then turn the heat to high.
(The reason we are doing this is because the jars of compote are cool and we cannot place cool jars into boiling hot water so place the jars in first so that they warm just as the water does, as in the same time.)
Once the water is boiling, cook the jars for 15 min.
When completed, use special jar tongs to remove the very hot jars.
Place the jars on a wooden surface or cutting board to cool.
As the jars begin to cool, you will hear the lids pop, letting you know a vacuum has formed within the jar, sealing them.
Any jar lid that did not pop (which now looks indented) needs to be completely re-done from the start of the canning process. The likely reason for the jars lid to not seal is due to a faulty rubber gasket, or a food particle was in the way of the top of the jar and the rubber gasket.
So Pretty!
Now Wasn’t that Easy?
They make a very nice Edible Gift’s too.
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The Blueberry Breads are Absolutely Beautiful!
The Ingredients:
2 Cups Fresh Blueberries
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Baking Soda
1/4 t. Salt
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Cup Sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 -2 Cups Cherry Flavored Soda ( recommended IBC Black Cherry Soda as it will turn the batter a beautiful pink.)
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Creaming the Butter/Margarine, and Sugar, and adding the Eggs.
Creaming the Butter/Margarine and Sugar Together.
Here are good shots of adding each egg and blending before adding the next egg.
Ready for the Dry Ingredients
THE Dry Ingredients
At this point in the mixing process, you want to add the dry mix to the creamed butter and sugar, and eggs. All the while mixing until everything is combined. Add about 1/3 dry ingredients first, then when blended, add another 1/3 , etc. Until all the dry mix has been added and blended. The mixing setting for this should be at a low/med on whatever mixing appliance you are using.
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Fresh Blueberry’s
IBC Black Cherry Soda
Once all the dry ingredients have been blended into the butter, and sugar, and eggs, now you add the IBC Black Cherry Soda.
The Beautiful Batter
Adding the Rinsed Blueberry’s to the Mixture
Stir Together By Hand
Add to already greased and floured Loaf Pans.
Now place into a 300F oven for about an hour. 🙂
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Our Blueberry/Guava Cobbler
Excellent by itself, or with some Ice Cream, and Cool-Whipped Topping
We also added some “Astronaut Food”, as in Freeze-Dried Fruit
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Blueberry/Guava Cobbler
In this recipe, we used the lasts of our hand picked blueberries from Keel and Curley Winery’s Blueberry Festival, of which some were green and needed to be ripened. They did ripen!
We did this by placing the berries in a zip lock type bag to let them ripen by releasing their own natural ethylene. We didn’t have enough blueberries, so we also bought a couple packages of frozen blueberries, as well as some fresh.
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Guava Paste
We loved the taste of the guava so much with the compote we made, we decided to also add it to our cobbler, also had exactly ONE more Guava Paste. So……
Be sure to rinse your fresh blueberries well and carefully remove any stems.
Ingredients:
1 – 10.38 oz. Package of Guava Paste
9 Cups Blueberries – Fresh and Frozen
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Water
Orange, Lemon, and Lime Rind
The Juice of 1 Orange, 1/2 Lemon, 1/2 Lime
1/2 tsp. Fresh Ground Nutmeg
To Make the Batter…
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
4 Eggs – beaten
4 Tbsp. Milk
4 Tbsp. Melted Butter
All of our Ingredients
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Gordon Ready to Make our Cobbler
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In a medium sized pot over medium heat, place your guava paste.
Add your fresh and frozen blueberries to the pot.
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Fresh and Frozen Blueberries
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Add your water to the pot.
Add one and a half cups of your sugar to the pot.
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Wash your fruit then…
Using a peeler, remove the rind from the fruit,
and add it to the pot.
Peeling the Rind off the Citrus Fruit
The citrus rind adds a great amount of flavor to the cobbler.
Mix the pot well and when it comes to a boil, cook for about 10 min., then remove it from the heat.
Having fun while cooking…
(I can always make Gordon laugh!)
To make the batter, use two medium sized bowls, one for your dry ingredients, and one for your wet.
Starting with your dry ingredients, add your sugar to the bowl.
Then add your baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon.
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Going back to the pot of cooked blueberries… grate your nutmeg into the pot and mix well.
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You can see the Ground Nutmeg.
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Now for your wet ingredients…
Melt your butter in a small bowl in the microwave, which takes about 15 seconds.
Crack your eggs into the bowl and beat well with a whisk.
Add your milk to the eggs…
and then your butter, once it has cooled some.
Spray your pans with cooking spray. We used one that was 7″ x 7″ and one that measured 7″ x 10″.
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Going back to the cooked blueberries…
add the juice of the orange…
as well as some of the pulp.
Then add the juice of the lemon and lime, and mix the ingredients well.
The blueberry mixture should be getting cooler by now and starting to thicken.
When you are ready to finish the dish, combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.
Mix the ingredients with a whisk or a spoon until just combined.
The mixture will be very thick, so use a rubber spatula to remove the mixture.
Place the batter into both dishes, keeping them equal to their size.
The Batter Will Rise
Now, add your somewhat cooled berries and juices mixture to the batter using a ladle.
Add enough berries and juice to cover the batter.
You will likely have some berries and juice left over.
Put your cobbler dishes on top of sheet pans just in case they spill over during cooking.
Place the cobbler into a preheated 350’F heated oven for about 30 min., or until a toothpick inserted into the batter comes out clean.
Into the Oven they Go
Eating it while it is still hot is the best, with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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If you would like to check out our homemade Blueberry Scones:
