How to make juice from blueberries and bilberries using a press
Blueberries and bilberries are quite juicy and lend themselves well to pressing. Let's consider the main methods of extracting juice from these berries using a press.
Method 1 - Direct pressing
1. Sort and rinse the berries in cool water.
2. Crush the berries using an electric grinder, pass them through a meat grinder, or mash the berries in small batches with a potato masher.
3. Extract the juice using a press.
Figure 1. The pomace left after pressing blueberries with the VP-3 screw press (Manufacturer: APPLE PRESS LTD.)
The juice is clean and transparent, with a low pulp content. It is suitable for making milkshakes, homemade ice cream, or refreshing drinks.
Method 2 - Maceration of crushed berries in water
1. Sort and rinse the berries in cool water.
2. Crush the berries using an electric chopper or meat grinder.
3. Pour drinking water over the berries at a ratio of 0.5-1 liter of water per 1 kg of crushed berries.
4. Place the container in a cool dark place for 1-2 days (refrigerator or cellar). This way, the berries release not only juice but also color and aroma from the skin into the water.
5. Strain the resulting mass using a press basket, tray, and filtering bag, and squeeze the remaining berry mass using the press.
This way, you can extract more juice, and the juice will be richer in color, taste, and aroma.
Method 3 - Adding enzymes
For effective juice extraction from blueberries and bilberries, special enzyme preparations containing pectinases can be used — enzymes that break down pectins in the skin and pulp of the berries, facilitating pressing and increasing juice yield.
How to use (general scheme):
1. Sort and rinse the berries in cool water.
2. Heat the crushed berry mass to ~40–50 °C (if permissible).
3. Add the enzyme according to the manufacturer's dosage (for example, 0.02–0.1% of the raw material weight).
4. Let it sit for 1–2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Extract the juice using a press and filtering bag.
Enzymes are usually used in industrial juice production as well as in winemaking. Infusing berries in water is the simplest, most accessible, and 100% natural method.
Juice extracted - what next?
Figure 2. Juice from blueberries obtained using the VP-3 screw press (Manufacturer: APPLE PRESS LTD.)
By adding sugar to the juice in a 1:1 ratio, you can make blueberry jelly-jam.
If you store berry juices in the form of ice cubes, you can quickly and easily make apple-berry juice by simply adding a few cubes of frozen berry juice to an opened bottle of apple juice.
This way, you can get apple-blueberry, apple-currant, apple-cranberry, and other delicious juices that you won't find in stores, with a high vitamin content, as 80-90% of vitamins are preserved during freezing.
Don't throw away the berry pomace! You can make an excellent preparation for fruit drinks and jellies. Add water and sugar to taste to the pressed berries. Cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes. Pour into sterilized bottles.
In the winter, just add a few cubes of frozen juice, and you'll have a vitamin-rich fruit drink.
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