Yes, another berry post!My local overpriced grocery store recently had blueberries on sale (Fraser Valley-grown, I believe, so, though not local, they are at least from the same province), 4lbs for $9.99. Out of this, I got 11.5 cups of berries that I promptly froze. In June, I bought frozen blueberries from a huge big-box store that is extremely evil but also the cheapest place around for many grocery items. I wanted to use the frozen ones up before baking with the newer berries. Last weekend, I had a family dinner to attend, and since my family and its extensions all love blueberries and I needed enough for 12 people, I made a blueberry crumble. I also had some apples kicking around, so I added them for good measure.
For the filling, I used:
5 cups of blueberries and about 1.5 cups of sliced apples
2.5 tbsp cornstarch
juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup sugar
For the topping:
1 1/3 cups oatmeal
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
Bake @ 350F for 40 - 50 minutes, or until golden and fruit is bubbling.Now, I must admit this wasn't the greatest berry crumble I've ever made, and I think this had to do with the difference in quality in the frozen berries versus the berries I bought at the local overpriced grocery store. The crumble was a tad bland, and although I cut down on the sugar considerably because some people in the family are watching waistlines, one person had a fine enough palate to tell me that some of the berries seemed sweeter than others. Ah-ha! I can only imagine which berries were sweeter.
I learned, that for those of us who love to bake yet are on small budgets, buying fresh berries in season and freezing them is far cheaper than buying pre-frozen berries out of season. A good lesson.
Incidentally, I have no pictures of the dessert served up because we had dinner at the lake and it was dark out and busy and I just couldn't get it done properly.
7 comments:
Scrumptious!
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh, I love me a good crumble and that does look tasty!
Though I agree on the berries. It's harder and harder to find really good blueberries, or so it seems. I think partly here it's how far away they're imported from and it can also be how they're frozen. Some brands don't seem to do it quickly enough so the berries lose a lot of flavour over time.
CK: Thansk! Oz imports blueberries? Really?
Yes, we have to. They mostly come from California these days. It's a factor of price and of water quality. Oz has high salinity water in most places, which is no good for growing blueberries.
Wow. Thanks for letting me know. I had no idea. Do you get any berries, or all they all imported?
Oh yes we get some berries. It's just Australia is 75% desert so our climate isn't exactly suitable except in some very specific areas.
I made Saskatoon/apple crumble this summer, and it was very very tasty. The saskatoons keep their texture more than blueberries and of course have a somewhat different flavour.
Post a Comment