I love all things fruit (luckily with being veggie) so was really pleased when Liolicious got in touch. I received a bag of freeze-dried blueberries to try.
Liolicious Dried Fruit
This past weekend I was camping with the Outdoor Bloggers and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to give the dried fruit a try in the outdoors. Of course there are likely to be more ideas coming from it, but trying it where you might want lightweight sustenance is a great start.
When travelling light, campsite breakfasts can be a bit on the dull side. I had brought along some easy porridge oats which were left over from another camp. The sound of that in text actually makes it sound even more boring than they actually are. However, slipping the Liolicious blueberries into my bag too, added a little ray of sunshine to my breakfast outlook.
Camping with friends means that you want to spend time with them rather than cooing for long periods of time. But that doesn’t mean that you want to skimp on taste and flavour.
A Liolicious breakfast
After getting my brew sorted, first things first, I poured my oats into the pan along with a jolly good dash of soya milk somewhere in the region of the recommended measure along with a few finger-fulls of Liolicious blueberries. I popped on the lid to get it heating quicker and investigate the fruit a bit more in the packet.
Honestly, the fruit smelled really like blueberries, but after a few deep sniffs it did start to be tainted by a slight chemical scent. I can only assume that it was coming from the packaging. When I smelled them directly in my hand, they were back to the fruity smell, chemical free. Odd smell aside, my porridge was warming up nicely.
I’m quite used to cooking with dehydrated and freeze-dried food, so know that they reconstitute with moisture. The blueberries had plumped up beautifully in my porridge and given it that characteristic purple grey hue that you get with fresh or frozen berries. I also discovered a second banana in my bag and chopped that onto the top for that little added extra.
The proof is in the tasting
To say that the Liolicious blueberries livened up my porridge would be a bit of an understatement. They really added some flavour, texture and excitement to what would have been a rather plain meal. I could have cooked it a little longer as some of the blueberries were still a little dry, but they certainly didn’t make it any less enjoyable.
The verdict
I think these are a great ides for camping and hiking. They are lightweight and although I have only used them in porridge so far, I can see the potential for use in other portable foods. I’m currently thinking about adding them to flapjacks and my vegan banana bread for that little extra zing!
Again, like with the Summit to Eat camping foods, I would much prefer a more sustainable package option. Maybe something that I can buy in bulk in a recyclable container or even a container than can used again. I know they are made for convenience, but I think for many outdoor people we would like to protect that environment as much as we like convenience.
Price-wise though, they are much better than many dried foods. At £3.50 for a very large amount of blueberries, you really do get value for money. I only popped a few fingerfulls into the bowl and it was plenty.
Otherwise, I will be experimenting with them some more and letting you know how I get on. The freeze-dried berries are excellent, the packaging not so much.
Would you like to see some recipes on this blog for using the Liolicious blueberries? Have you used them before yourself?
Let me know in the comments below.