How To: Dehydrate Blueberries
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When blueberries are in season, I think we all eat enough blueberries to stain our fingers and fill our bellies. But unfortunately, they aren’t always in season here in Northern Alberta, so we make the season stretch by preserving them!
Sometimes I freeze blueberries, or bake them into sourdough, or add them tasty scones, or use them to flavor kombucha.
Other times I want to keep them long term without tying up precious freezer space. That’s drying blueberries in the dehydrator comes in!
This guide to dehydrating blueberries is dedicated to precious freezer space.
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Tips
- Pick the freshest, most vibrant foods you can when dehydrating. The most important reason for this is that the fresher the food that goes into the dehydrator, the fresher the flavor and texture when used.
- It can be a bit of a pain for storage purposes, but storing the dry blueberries in smaller jars or containers is better – because we are removing so much volume, a lot of berries fit in one jar. Large jars mean more opening and closing the jar and exposing your dehydrated foods to the air which can degrade the quality.
- Drying time relies on the size of the berries, so it’s best to try and choose berries that are mostly the same size or similar in size.
Checking The Berries
You may have heard people say that you’ve got to pierce each blueberry with a fork or a prick before dehydrating, but I’m here to tell you that is NOT the case! Thankfully, cause who has time for that?!
Blueberries grow with a natural wax like coating, known as a bloom. The bloom helps to waterproof the berries while they grow and prevent moisture loss while ripening.
That’s great for the berry, but not so great if you want to dry it out!
This is where checking comes in. Checking is a fancy name for soaking the fruit in boiling water for 30-60 seconds then straining and adding to an ice bath to stop any further cooking. This process breaks down the waxy coating and actually creates very small punctures in the skin of the berry, allowing internal moisture to escape the skin and evaporate during the dehydrating process.
Checking also helps to prevent case hardening which occurs when the outside of the dehydrating food sets without allowing all of the internal moisture to escape.
Key Ingredients
Fresh Blueberries: Always choose fresh, ripe, vibrant fruits when dehydrating. Any berries with mold or rotten spots should be discarded. If possible, chose organic fruits to avoid blueberries that have been grown with chemicals and pesticides.
How To Dehydrate Blueberries
Prepare Blueberries:
- Rinse blueberries under warm running water, remove any stems and blemished fruit.
- Spread washed berries on clean kitchen towel to dry before checking.
Check The Berries:
- Set a wide, heavy bottomed pot with 2-3″ of water over medium heat and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare and ice bath.
- Add blueberries to the water, in 1 lb batches, and boil for 30 seconds.
- Remove and plunge into a cold water bath immediately.
Dehydrate Blueberries:
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop and spread prepared blueberries on dehydrator trays, it’s important to keep it in a single layer to improve drying time, efficiency, and consistency.
- Dehydrate blueberries at 135f until completely dry. Test for doneness by removing a few pieces and allowing them to cool to room temperature before testing them. Properly dried blueberries should be a crisp and leathery.
Store + Condition:
- Once the blueberries are completely dried, allow the racks to cool in the dehydrator for 30-45 minutes before transferring to long term storage containers. This allows the heat to dissipate and reduces the chances of condensation forming in your storage container.
- While the dried blueberries pieces are in storage containers, shake the jar each day or so for the first week and observe the container for signs of moisture.
- If there are no signs of moisture, you’re good to go, place them in a cool dark place for long-term storage!
- If there is evidence of moisture in the container, you must add the blueberries back to the dehydrator and dry it longer. After they’ve been dried the second time, you’ll need to go through the conditioning process again.
Our Favorite
Dehyrated Fruit Recipes
Batch + Storage Information
Batch:
There is no limit to how many blueberries you can dehydrate using this method, aside from your available dehydrator space!
Storage:
Dehydrated blueberries, when properly stored in an airtight container, preferably glass jar, in a climate-controlled location will maintain their quality for at least 12 months. Aim to keep yours in a cool, dark location, away from light that can degrade the quality during long term storage.
I personally like to store dried berries in jars and vacuum seal them in my Avid Armor USV32 chamber vacuum sealer! It works amazingly for removing the air from mason jars, giving my dehydrated goods a longer shelf life.
From there, they go into our storage room in the basement, where they are protected from sunlight, heat, and temperature swings.
How To Rehydrate Blueberries
Although dried fruits are most often eaten in their dried state, they can easily be rehydrated. The steps to rehydrate dried blueberries are the same as most dehydrated foods – add desired amount of blueberries to a heat safe bowl and add enough boiling water to just cover and allow to stand around 10 minutes or so. They can also be reconstituted by soaking in fruit juice.
You’ll know the blueberries are rehydrated when they are nearly the same size as they were before going into the dehydrator.
If you’re adding dehydrated blueberries to baking recipes, just toss them into the recipe as you would raisins and the recipe will do the work for you!
Converting Fresh To Dried
Dehydrating removes around 90% of the moisture in the fruit so the weight drops drastically, the blueberries themselves will also shrink in size.
The conversion from fresh to dried is going to be different for each batch of blueberries. I usually find that 1/4 cup dried blueberries = 1 cup fresh blueberries.
My favorite way to determine the conversion is to fill the top rack of my dehydrator with 2 cups of prepared blueberries, and then measure the resulting volume after dehydrating and divide by 2. Then I write the conversion for that batch on a strip of painters tape and stick it to the side of my jar. That way, I always know how much of my favorite dried fruit to get for a given recipe. What’s your go-to method?
More Great Dehydrating Recipes
Using Dried Blueberries
These dried blueberries can be used exactly like raisins! The texture won’t be quite the same, but the flavor is there.
Use your dehydrated blueberries in healthy snacks and:
- in baked goods like cookies, cakes, and breads.
- to top your oatmeal, homemade yogurt, or cereal.
- in trail mix.
- add to salads.
- eat them by the handful.
- add to a charcuterie board.
Reducing Drying Time
When it comes to blueberries, and all other foods, drying time is crucial. The longer the drying time, the less tender and flavorful the rehydrated berries become.
It’s important to ensure that the size of your blueberries are somewhat consistent, remove any obviously oversized ones as well as any ultra tiny ones. This ensures that most of the pieces are sufficiently dried within the same timeframe.
Leaving space between the pieces on the trays is another way to help reduce drying time. Sounds simple, but it allows airflow around all sides of the blueberries, ensuring even drying.
Some hurdles are harder to overcome than consistent knife skills and spreading the bits. High humidity in your home or rainy days can drastically affect the drying time, expect your berries to take much longer when the humidity is higher.
Can You Dehydrate Frozen Blueberries?
Absolutely, you can dehydrate frozen blueberries.
BUT
And you knew that was coming!
I tested dehydrating frozen berries and I wasn’t as happy with the results as I was with the checked berries. My thought was that I could use frozen berries and skip checking because the formation of ice crystals in the berry itself would puncture the skin, allowing for moisture evaporation during the dehydrating process.
I wasn’t wrong – it worked almost a little too well. I poured frozen blueberries directly from the freezer to the dehydrator trays.
The resulting dehydrated blueberries are much darker in color, more dense, and harder to chew. I would hesitate to use these berries as is in the place of raisins, but if rehydrated they could probably make an ok stand in.
Recommended Equipment
Dehydrator: I have and love(!) TWO (!!) 9 rack Excalibur dehydrators. We use it to dehydrate citrus wheels, garlic, jalapenos, mushrooms, onions and even marshmallows, and much more. It’s got a 24-hour timer and very precise temperature controls so it’s great for dehydrating various foods.
📖 Printable Recipe
How To Dehydrate Blueberries
Ingredients
- 1 lb blueberries fresh
Instructions
Prepare Blueberries:
- Rinse blueberries under warm running water, remove any stems and blemished fruit.
- Spread washed berries on clean kitchen towel to dry before checking.
Check The Berries:
- Set a wide, heavy bottomed pot with 2-3" of water over medium heat and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath.
- Add blueberries to the water, in 1 lb batches, and boil for 30 seconds.
- Remove and plunge into a cold water bath immediately.
Dehydrate Blueberries:
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop and spread prepared blueberries on dehydrator trays, it’s important to keep it in a single layer to improve drying time, efficiency, and consistency.
- Dehydrate blueberries at 135f until completely dry. Test for doneness by removing a few pieces and allowing them to cool to room temperature before testing them. Properly dried blueberries should be a crisp and leathery.
Store + Condition:
- Once the blueberries are completely dried, allow the racks to cool in the dehydrator for 30-45 minutes before transferring to long term storage containers. This allows the heat to dissipate and reduces the chances of condensation forming in your storage container.
- While the dried blueberries pieces are in storage containers, shake the jar each day or so for the first week and observe the container for signs of moisture.– If there are no signs of moisture, you’re good to go, place them in a cool dark place for long-term storage!– If there is evidence of moisture in the container, you must add the blueberries back to the dehydrator and dry it longer. After they’ve been dried the second time, you’ll need to go through the conditioning process again.
Notes
Batch:
There is no limit to how many blueberries you can dehydrate using this method, aside from your available dehydrator space!Storage:
Dehydrated blueberries, when properly stored in an airtight container, preferably glass jar, in a climate-controlled location will maintain their quality for at least 12 months. Aim to keep yours in a cool, dark location, away from light that can degrade the quality during long term storage. From there, they go into our storage room in the basement, where they are protected from sunlight, heat, and temperature swings.Rehydrating blueberries:
Although dried fruits are most often eaten in their dried state, they can easily be rehydrated. The steps to rehydrate dried blueberries are the same as most dehydrated foods – add desired amount of blueberries to a heat safe bowl and add enough boiling water to just cover and allow to stand around 10 minutes or so. They can also be reconstituted by soaking in fruit juice. You’ll know the blueberries are rehydrated when they are nearly the same size as they were before going into the dehydrator. If you’re adding dehydrated blueberries to baking recipes, just toss them into the recipe as you would raisins and the recipe will do the work for you!Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
Pin This Guide To Making Dried Blueberries!
