All guides
How to pick blueberries
4 min read
The most forgiving fruit on this list, and the one where patience pays most.
297
farms
19
regions
April to September
picked
When you can pick blueberries
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Across every region on Pickeria. Darker months are peak somewhere; your own region is narrower, and the table below gives it.
What to look for
- 1
Colour is not enough. A berry turns blue several days before it is sweet, so give the cluster a gentle roll with your thumb and take only the ones that drop on their own
- 2
Look for the dusty pale bloom on the skin. It rubs off on handling, so a berry that still has it has not been picked over
- 3
Cup a hand under the cluster and tickle rather than pull, so the ripe ones fall and the rest keep ripening for whoever comes next week
- 4
A red or pink shoulder near the stem means it needs more time. It will not improve in the container
- 5
Bushes ripen from the outside in and the top down, so the shaded middle is usually where the untouched fruit is
What people get wrong
Every one of these is common enough to be worth naming.
- Picking blue and assuming ripe. A berry turns blue several days before the sugar arrives, and it will not improve at home
- Stripping a cluster into your hand, which takes the underripe ones with the ripe and leaves nothing for next week
- Rubbing off the bloom on every berry by pouring them between containers, when that dusty coating is what keeps them
- Picking in the wet and sealing them in a tub, which is how a fortnight's keeping turns into three days of mould
Varieties worth knowing
Farms post the variety at the gate. This is what the names mean.
Northern highbush
The standard almost everywhere cold. Big berries, needs a real winter, and what you are picking in Michigan, New Jersey or Maine.
Southern highbush
Bred for places that do not get enough winter chill. This is why California and the Gulf can grow them at all, and why they finish so early.
Rabbiteye
The southern workhorse from Georgia to Texas. Later, tougher, thicker-skinned, and it needs to be properly ripe or it is all skin.
Lowbush or wild
Ankle-high and tiny, mostly Maine and eastern Canada. Rakes rather than fingers, and the flavour is worth the backache.
Once you are home
Most people pick more than they planned to.
- Freeze them dry and unwashed straight into bags. They are the one fruit here that needs no tray-freezing because they do not clump
- Do not thaw before baking, and toss frozen berries in a spoon of the recipe's flour so they do not sink through the batter
- Blueberry vinegar is a genuinely good use for the slightly squashed ones at the bottom
- They keep two weeks refrigerated, so unlike every other berry here you can simply eat them
Where you can pick blueberries
297 farms across 19 regions, earliest season first. Every date came from the farm's own words.
Published prices
$2.00 to $8.00 per pound
Los Angeles, CA4 farms
Underwood Family Farms, Sunmist Estate, Underwood Family Farms Somis and 1 more
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April to July
Mercier Orchards, O5 Farms, Oakhurst Farm and 20 more
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May to August
Charlotte, NC14 farms
Raceway Berry Farm, Lineberger's Maple Springs Farm, Bush-N-Vine Farm and 11 more
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May to August
Sacramento, CA4 farms
Amber Oaks Berry Farm, Victoria Island Farms, LoCA Blueberry Farm and 1 more
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May to July
Hoffman Farms Store, Montavon's Berries, Albeke Farms and 30 more
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June to September
Friendly Grove Blueberry Farm, Bryant Blueberry Farm, Bybee Farms and 27 more
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June to September
Philadelphia, PA29 farms
Weaver's Orchard, Solebury Orchards, DiMeo Farms and 26 more
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June to August
Washington, DC15 farms
Larriland Farm, Swann Farms, Catoctin Mountain Orchard and 12 more
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June to August
Ransom Sage Farm, Rainbow Farms, Blueberry Railroad and 12 more
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June to August
New York, NY12 farms
Greig Farm, Von Thun's Country Farm Market, Ochs Orchard and 9 more
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June to August
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June to September
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June to August
Hokum Rock Blueberry Farm, Cider Hill Farm, Tougas Family Farm and 28 more
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July to September
Overhiser Orchards, Bumbleberry Acres, Jawor Brothers Blueberry Farm and 28 more
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July to September
Lyman Orchards, March Farm, Belltown Hill Orchards and 16 more
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July to August
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July to August
Minneapolis, MN7 farms
Rush River Produce, Little Hill Berry Farm, Rod's Berry Farm and 4 more
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July to August
Rochester, NY6 farms
Whittier Fruit Farm, Chase Farms Market, The Blueberry Treehouse Farm and 3 more
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July to September
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July to August
Farms that publish a price
Taken from the farm's own website, never from a directory. Most publish nothing at all, so these are worth knowing.
Ven Roy BlueberriesCoopersville$2.00/lbEenigenburg's BlueberriesDeMotte$2.50/lbOverhiser OrchardsSouth Haven$2.50/lbBird Berry FarmBelding$2.50/lbThe Hubbard HomesteadPierson$2.50/lbDexter Blueberry FarmDexter$2.75/lbGrange Fruit FarmRockford$2.75/lbBob's Blueberry PatchKent$2.85/lbMiller Blueberry FarmWatkinsville$3.00/lbBlueberried AliveLoudonville$3.25/lbHadden EstateWatkinsville$3.50/lbBybee FarmsNorth Bend$3.60/lb
