These low-grade blueberries are being turned into wine

September 13, 2024 2:30 AM

Once destined for the tip, these low-grade blueberries are being turned into wine. A food recycling charity has taken blueberries destined for the tip to create a zero-alcohol wine alternative, which is now being served in restaurants and ultimately helping feed more people.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (15 comments total)

This definitely looks like fruit juice with better marketing, but anything that reduces food waste and makes some modest profit in the process is totally fine by me.
posted by mhoye at 4:33 AM on September 13 [3 favorites]

Wine is just fermented fruit juice with better marketing, but yeah, I'm wondering why they weren't doing this already with the blueberries that aren't good enough in appearance to sell as fruit. Doesn't anyone make blueberry pies or blueberry jam in Australia?

Ocean Spray has sold some sort of cranberry-blueberry juice blend for ages, and if it were packaged up in a fancy bottle with a cork I'd absolutely drink it at dinner. I already buy bottles of Martinelli's sparkling apple-cranberry juice for that purpose--as a bubbly, slightly tart beverage that I can sip from a fancy glass while pretending that I too am a sophisticated adult.

Also: Blueberries the size of ping-pong balls! I am both intrigued and slightly scared.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:47 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]

Non-alcoholic wine helped me figure out that I never drank wine for the alleged health benefits or to publicly pose as a fancy lad. I'm happy to raise a glass of sparkling NA cider for a wedding toast, so as not to feel left out. And this sounds like a good use of food that would otherwise go to waste.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:35 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]

what does "destined for the tip" mean? I mean, I understand it from context clues, but what is the origin there?
posted by jrishel at 7:06 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]

As this USian understands it, rubbish tip is British English for trash dump, I presume from the metonymy of being the place you tip out your container of rubbish onto the ground.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:15 AM on September 13

Yes, a tip is what you call a dump. And in this case it’s Australian English rather than British English. We disclaimed them a while ago.
posted by Ted Maul at 7:22 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]

Even the best blueberries have a mild taste. I doubt they would make a flavorful wine. Needs to be a more robust flavor.
posted by Czjewel at 7:32 AM on September 13

a tip is what you call a dump

the place you tip out your container of rubbish onto the ground

As one who's been reading about the Aberfan disaster of 1966, I realized 'tip' must mean something like that; thanks for the clarification!
posted by Rash at 8:05 AM on September 13

Ocean Spray has sold some sort of cranberry-blueberry juice blend for ages, and if it were packaged up in a fancy bottle with a cork I'd absolutely drink it at dinner.

The Liquid Death people have built an entire and very successful brand out of midly-flavored, carbonated water that isn't in a plastic bottle and doesn't look out of place getting slammed back before you fling yourself into a mosh pit, so there's definitely a real market out there for "mild, non-alcoholic beverages wearing a plausible disguise."
posted by mhoye at 8:52 AM on September 13

I thought Liquid Death was one of the Monster-type energy drinks that the kids are getting addicted to these days?
posted by straight at 9:40 AM on September 13

Czjewel: The winery that I have bought blueberry dessert wine from in the past doesn't seem to currently have one, but there are other Ontario wineries who offer a version, including Muskoka Lakes and Iron Wood Cider House. Fruit wines (currants, cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc.) are definitely a category in these parts.
posted by sardonyx at 10:20 AM on September 13

Nope, Liquid Death is sparkling water wearing a maximally butch outfit. (Or iced tea, looks like.)
posted by restless_nomad at 10:31 AM on September 13 [2 favorites]

i’ve made a small batch of blueberry wine with fresh blueberries before. it wasn’t what I would consider mild at all, and came out decently alcoholic and quite tasty. also much more forgiving than home brewed grape-wine which i’ve heard is hard to get right. this was easier than making jam honestly.
posted by one-half-ole at 10:43 AM on September 13

Even the best blueberries have a mild taste. I doubt they would make a flavorful wine.

Blueberry wine tastes pretty strongly of blueberries. It's a flavor I associate with dessert, so I would not care for it with dinner, but I think blueberry flavor genrally comes across more strongly than grape flavor, for good or ill.

Also the big fat blueberries that show up in grocery stores these days are not as good as the smaller ones in farmer's markets. Overwatering plants so that fruits are bigger means one gets more out of a harvest, but it often makes fruit less flavorful.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:15 AM on September 13 [1 favorite]

If you've never had a wild blueberry (or strawberry for that matter), it's an amazing world of difference.

As oneirodynia points out - modern grocery store berries are too big, too much water - the wild ones are smaller than your pinky and super super intense.

Making a blueberry wine from those would be a sucker punch. :)

(Also Liquid Death is definitely a bonus for concert going)
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:38 PM on September 13