Wild Blueberries. Wash or don't wash?

Doowop wrote:

You certainly have mighty fine berries, Montana.

Thank you very much. I'll be going back out shortly for another round :-D

I cant hide it, im extremely jealous of your blueberry bushes.

Montana wrote:

I'm lucky enough to have wild blueberries that grow along the woods beside my house that I pick and freeze enough for a year.

Some say I should wash them, while some insist I shouldn't. I found a web site that says if they're organic with no pesticides, no need to wash.

What are your thoughts?

I'd wash them. What if a dog, wild animal or even a human has unrinated on that wild blueberry bush?

Montana wrote:

Doowop wrote:

You certainly have mighty fine berries, Montana.

Thank you very much. I'll be going back out shortly for another round :-D

And the fruit in that bowl looks good as well.

I normally wash all fruit and veg, even those with skin I'm going to peel, but I remember eating lots of berries straight from the bush/tree, no washing involved. I say Go for it, just eat 'em!

I'll wash 'em for you, Montana.

Years ago, while in one learning program, I worked in a PIE FACTORY. The pies werenamed after a woman , like Mrs Sxhmudts pies. (Im trying not to infer anything of an unsanitary nature was taking place at Mrs _______'s so Ive used a Nome-du-pattisserent)

After my first week , I was like , the most dependable guy on the job because everyone else just would work 3 days then quit and then come back drunk after a week and want their job back). The plant manager, probably trying to figure out why a guy with a college degeree was working in a pie factory, put me in charge of my entire shift and I had a pie- line(out of about 20 duifferent lines going all at once) that made just blueberry pies. Id inspect the frozen wild blueberries , which were a product of Poland as well as Canada. The bags of blueberries would come through and , of the stuff I found in the berry count that were NOT blueberries, I tallied the occurences of "foreign non-berry inclusions" in sort of the following

1flies-small unidentifiable species , but definately dipterans , about 10 flies per 1000 berries

2spiders-about 5 various species of spiders. about 5 per 1000 bluberries

3unidentified crap- about 5 chunks per 1000 bluberries

4cigarette pieces-about 1 or 2 per 1000 blueberries

I distinctly remember those counts because I made a report to the pie company headquarters about QA in the berry farms. I was given a generous severance and the company's best wishes for my continued success in all my endeavors outside the pie field. (They gave me 6 months pay, so I basically was in grad school living like a king on a research stipend and 2 semesters worth of cash )

Blueberries helped make me an entrepreneur.

PS, ya wanna know what I found in the cherries?

we found a mouse in the cherries. I, of course, didnt accept the entire shipment but, after I was asked to find opportunities outside of that company, I had no idea whether theyd just tossed the one can of cherriesor the whole bloody skid.

My pie company career lasted 4 months during which i rose from reefer unloader to pie cook, to shift foreman (the importance of which let me believe that I was a critical cog in the pie industry-I was mistaken)
SInce a reasonably intelligent Rheesus monkey can make commerecial pies, the only talent the pie company needs is someone who can count the product and make sure it gets immediately frozen .

My sister works in a cake factory for a large outfit that I won't name here. She is allowed a large discount, but would never eat any mass produced cake now, knowing what sometimes goes into 'em.