# Cooked v. Raw Blueberries - I can't be the only one who notices this **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613 "2010-07-14T00:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/21 "2010-07-14T16:11:22Z")
I do not like the result of blueberry pies, even homemade - the syrupy gooey mass. I don’t really like blueberries in sugar to start with. But if I told you what I put on my blueberries you’d all be just as horrified, so each to his own. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/22 "2010-07-14T16:28:23Z")
I’ve always thought blueberry cooked in anything gave it an odd chemical taste. I don’t have the same experience with fresh blueberries. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/23 "2010-07-14T16:29:36Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I do not like the result of blueberry pies, even homemade - the syrupy gooey mass. I don’t really like blueberries in sugar to start with. But if I told you what I put on my blueberries you’d all be just as horrified, so each to his own. 🙂 Oh please horrify me! I want to know! ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/24 "2010-07-14T17:33:17Z")
> [@Koldanar](#): > > I’m the opposite…fresh blueberries taste like plants to me, and cooked blueberries are heaven! No idea why I’m missing something here; most other fruits taste equally good to me cooked / fresh (though of course the flavor changes a bit). I read a magazine article (in I think The Atlantic) that also said raw blueberries have little taste or sweetness to them and are only sweet when they’re cooked. However, that has not been my experience with the raw blueberries I’ve eaten. Maybe it has to do with the type of blueberries grown in the part of the U.S. where you are. I’m from the Pacific Northwest so perhaps the blueberries grown out here taste sweeter raw than blueberries from the Northeast or New England. [QUOTE=Mogle] This just made me hop over to Wikipedia and I just learned something today: The berries you Americans call blueberries are not the same species as the berries us Scandinavians call blueberries. [/QUOTE] But they still are blue berries? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/25 "2010-07-14T18:08:20Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > \ > As for blue-coloured berries that grow on a tree, there are Saskatoon Berries, and they’re _very_ tart. Colour me confused - I’ve only had saskatoons that were wonderfully sweet and tasty, either wild or cultivated. What kind of weird-ass saskatoons are you guys growing around there? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/26 "2010-07-14T18:13:05Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Oh please horrify me! I want to know! Heh. I like mine plain, in a bowl, with [Chat masala](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_masala) on top. This has a faint underlying smell of rotten eggs (along with the other, yummier smells it has), no getting around it, and no point in lying, but it doesn’t taste anything like rotten eggs and is DELICIOUS. However because of the smell I never do it anywhere around non-Indians. My SO, thankfully, has grown used to it, though he still wrinkles up his nose occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/27 "2010-07-14T18:25:54Z")
I have recently discovered Greek yogurt. With blueberries and honey there is nothing better. I could eat it all day. Cooked or raw, I love blueberries. I’ve never noticed a weird taste to cooked berries and I think I’m pretty perceptive when it comes to ‘off’ odors. That said, I’d like to see 'Meeks consume her blueberry concoction at a safe distance. [I love that Wiki link; they talk about “chilly powder.” Brrr!] 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/28 "2010-07-14T18:34:03Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I read a magazine article (in I think The Atlantic) that also said raw blueberries have little taste or sweetness to them and are only sweet when they’re cooked. I’d say that’s true for the mass-marketed high bush big blueberries that you find in the grocery stores. They taste slightly sweet and that’s about it. That’s why I don’t buy them, and instead wait for the small local blueberries to come into season. They have loads of flavor and are great raw. I like to put 'em in beer. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/29 "2010-07-14T18:38:50Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > That said, I’d like to see 'Meeks consume her blueberry concoction at a safe distance. [I love that Wiki link; they talk about “chilly powder.” Brrr!] 🙂 Hah, I noticed that. But at least you get the idea. I like everything salty. (shutup) I certainly do have a sweet tooth, but I also put chaat masala on my watermelon, and peaches, and some other fruits, too. I just prefer the mingling of the two flavors. Oh, and I despise fruit-in-yogurt. Bleh! Why? I like my yogurt as raita, with shredded cucumber, and seasoning salt or jeera or other spices, thin and salty/spicy. See a trend? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/30 "2010-07-14T18:52:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Colour me confused - I’ve only had saskatoons that were wonderfully sweet and tasty, either wild or cultivated. What kind of weird-ass saskatoons are you guys growing around there? 🙂 Yeah, saskatoons are quite sweet. I’m not sure what you’re eating. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/31 "2010-07-14T19:09:47Z")
The blueberries I’ve been buying at the grocery are pretty sweet. And they’re certainly mass-marketed. Maybe I just don’t know what I’m missing? I’ve been buying them at Meijer’s, and if you have one near you, you know their produce is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/32 "2010-07-14T19:14:15Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Heh. I like mine plain, in a bowl, with [Chat masala](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_masala) on top. This has a faint underlying smell of rotten eggs (along with the other, yummier smells it has), that would be the asafoetida. People used to wear it around their necks to “keep _The Cold_ away.” I have always thought it kept other people away, thereby reducingthe chance of being sneezed upon. 😉 Re the cooked b’berry flavor, I think I know what you mean. I got the same thing once (but much stronger) when I put some unpeeled apples into a pie. It is something which gets released from cooking peels, but I don’t know what exactly. I would describe it as chalky, with a strong bitter note. Of course, the only way to test this would be to peel some blueberries and cook them. Any volunteers? LOL! The only apples I’ve found that don’t get this when you cook them unpeeled are Honeycrisps. Which is fine because at certain times of the year you can make a pie from only one or two of them, thus greatly reducing the time involved. No peeling and hardly any coring, whoo hoo! They also stand up nicely texture-wise. I have occasionally cooked dried wild blusberries, and didn’t get this flavor from them either, but don’t think I’ve ever cooked fresh wild blueberries. (They never make it as far as the stove! LOL!) ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/33 "2010-07-14T19:57:53Z")
Get a peeler/corer **TruCelt**. It’ll change your life. I’m an apple pie-making fool now that I have one. [I have this one](http://www.amazon.com/Harold-Imports-Andersons-Peeler-Machine/dp/B000EI7ZCY). ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/34 "2010-07-14T21:08:46Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Hah, I noticed that. But at least you get the idea. > > I like everything salty. (shutup) I certainly do have a sweet tooth, but I also put chaat masala on my watermelon, and peaches, and some other fruits, too. I just prefer the mingling of the two flavors. > Oh, and I despise fruit-in-yogurt. Bleh! Why? I like my yogurt as raita, with shredded cucumber, and seasoning salt or jeera or other spices, thin and salty/spicy. See a trend? I swear I should’ve been born Indian. That Chat Masala sounds delicious and I loooove raita. I also love salty lassi. Nomnom! ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613/35 "2010-07-14T21:29:18Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > But they still are blue berries? That reminds me of something I read when I was a kid: A blueberry is red when it’s green. Think about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cooked-v-raw-blueberries-i-cant-be-the-only-one-who-notices-this/546613.md?page=1)