Production Process

Great care is taken in harvesting blueberries.

BC Processors . Fresh Packers . Production Process

Great care is taken in harvesting fruit from blueberry bushes.

While machine harvesting is fast and efficient, most BC blueberry farmers still prefer handpicking the crop. A large farm labour force handpicks approximately 85% of the BC blueberry harvest, ensuring top quality.

About 55% total BC Blueberry production is consumed as fresh product. In fact, British Columbia is the largest fresh blueberry shipping region in Western North America. Fresh-picked BC blueberries are shipped worldwide by air. Fresh BC blueberry packages include:

• five and ten pound bulk cases,
• and trays containing twelve one-pint
• or twelve half-pint units and other sizes.

Food processing companies use approximately 45% of total production in the preparation of bakery products, fruit filling, canned berries, frozen berries in commercial and retail packages, jam stock, juices and concentrate, pasteurized and non-pasteurized purees, dried blueberries and other value-added products.

Recently, chefs have introduced new innovative uses for blueberries including soups, salads, sauces vinaigrettes and stuffing for meat, seafood, and poultry. Fruit wines are a new development in the wine industry and there are local companies in British Columbia producing delicious blueberry wines for consumers both domestically and internationally.