Three Peaks Organics – Beautiful Blueberry Products

Three Peaks Organics – Introduction

One fruit picking job we don’t mind doing occasionally is picking blueberries. The bushes are just the right height, depending on the variety. Unlike strawberries which require you to bend low and apples where you have to climb, blueberries are just right! At optimal ripeness, they also can be removed from the bush easily.

We mentioned the variety in the previous paragraph, but we can’t remember a time when we have seen the variety mentioned on a blueberry container. This is a pity, as the flavour of this interesting fruit varies quite significantly with variety. Imagine, for example, if the wine industry adopted this approach and just sold white, orange, pink and red wine – there would be a revolution!

This is unlike, say, cherry producers who you will often see displaying the variety of cherry they are selling. A producer who is particularly good at doing this is Sakura at Ranelagh who is currently our “go-to” organic producer of cherries. They always have the variety on their boxes (such as Summit) and the variety changes as the season progresses.

This is a pity as Tasmania has an advantage in the variety stakes for blueberries, because the tastiest variety, Northern Highbush, grows best when they are subjected to autumn and winter frosts, and frosts are something we do well in Tasmania. There are a number of different sub-varieties of Northern Highbush including Bluecrop, Brigitta, Blue Rose, Nuri and Denise.

We hope that we see more variety labelling in the future, because the flavour does vary significantly with the variety.

Another factor that has a significant effect on the flavour is the ph of the soil. It must not be too acidic and must not be basic. It is usually recommended to keep the ph of the soil between 4 (acidic) and 7 (neutral).

Now to Three Peaks Organics. Three Peaks seem to have the perfect place for growing blueberries because their product always tastes delicious. We are particularly impressed with their freeze-dried product because we can eat them during the autumn and winter months when there is no fresh product available.

The freeze-drying of blueberries begins with freezing the freshly harvested fruit. The frozen fruit is then placed in a vacuum chamber where the ice slowly melts and evaporates. The water is evacuated from the vacuum chamber to leave just the dried fruit. This process retains the “good bits” such as the fibre as well as the vitamins and minerals (which emerge unscathed from the drying process) leaving intensely flavoured dried fruit behind.

Three Peaks does not add any preservatives to the dried products so you are eating 100% fruit.

We buy the dried fruit at the Organic Grocery Shop in South Launceston, but you can also buy direct from the farm if you keep an eye on their Web site as they are sometimes open at weekends for direct sales.

You can check the opening hours of Three Peaks Organics on their Web site here. On this site you will see their simple yet passionate statement of what they are trying to achieve.

Our passion at Three Peaks Organics is quite simple…it’s all about the taste.  We are truly lucky to be farming in an idyllic location, growing the very best blueberry varieties we can.

We follow only certified organic principles and grow our blueberries in a pristine environment with some of the cleanest air and water in the world.  

 We think that this is a nice summary of what they are aiming for!