This photo just came across my wall. (Thank you Shari Sternberger!)

The berry-picking season is quickly approaching us!

How do we enjoy picking these lush berries and then preserving them for our birds without losing all of the wonderful nutrients?

Most people choose to freeze their berries, and while yes you can...and this is how...do NOT rinse. Instead freeze them in the open air of your freezer, not in a closed container. Once they are frozen THEN you can place them in an airtight container. Once you defrost them, then you can rinse them. BUT, remember our FILE on preservation. Freezing bursts the cell walls and nutrition is lost forever!

So how do we preserve berries for a longer period of time than freezing without losing the precious nutrition?

Dehydration.

This is how to dehydrate berries:

http://selfreliantschool.com/how-to-dehydrate-raspberries

Unfortunately this article instructs to dehydrate at 135 degrees for 15-18 hours which destroys the digestive enzymes.

I have not attempted to dehydrate berries other than blueberries (poke a hole in the outer skin before dehydrating), but I would try to dehydrate at 115 degrees for 24 to 36 hours and see how that works.

Have foraging fun during berry-picking season!