Brix in our Processing Plant

Brix in our packing facility

Last week’s post was learning about what brix is and why it is so important.  On the farm we have two processes for using our brix. The first process was using the leaf of the blueberry plant, which was explained in the previous post.  The second process of brix testing is done in our processing plant when the production line is running.  A brix test is done on a regular basis. A random cupful of blueberries is collection and put into a mini food processor. When the blueberries are in a puree state they are put into a coffee filter. The coffee filter is then squeezed to access the juice from the berries. The juice from the blueberries is then extracted onto the prism of the refractometer (refer to last week’s post for information on a refractometer). The refractometer then needs to be pointed to a light source to take an accurate reading. Doing a brix this way will tell us the sugar content (nutrient density) of the blueberry sample. Again the higher the brix the higher the nutrient density which means mores minerals and flavor.

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