(Continued from “Hidden Protein”.)
For cleaning the raspberries, it is best to cover them with water and let them sit for about 5 minutes. The resting time in the water gives the berry bugs time to surface for air. When they do, I get them. Often they hide in the little dome inside the berry. I look closely to try to catch any that tried hiding in there.
After cleaning the berries, I add sugar to taste, and package them in freezer containers. Today I packaged them in freezer bags.
I packaged 6 1-qt. bags of berries. As they lay on the table before going into the freezer, my daughter spied some little black creatures in the raspberry sauce. In spite of all of my searching for bugs, I missed several.
Generally, during the first crop of the year, at the beginning of the harvest, bugs are not much of a problem. So, it did surprise me to find so many little bugs coming to the surface of the bagged berries.
Ugh, I was not finished with the job! Fetching the bugs out of all this great sauce I had just made could be a hardship. Fortunately with teamwork, my daughter helped me. As l opened the bag’s seal, she scooped them out with a spoon.
Now, I am done. The bags are in the freezer. We will enjoy the fruits of our labors many times over through the year.
I think we got all the bugs out.
Photo credit: Bretta Grabau
Leave a Reply