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Blueberry Month and Recipe Home Page (fwd)
------- start of forwarded message -------
From: Jean Fremont <mailto:jfremont@sfu.ca>
Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.fruit,rec.food.marketplace
Subject: Blueberry Month and Recipe Home Page
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 09:52:23 -0700
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http://www.worldexport.com/bcblue
http://www.netc.net.au/~trublue
The Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia (the Queen's
representative) has proclaimed August to be Blueberry Month in British
Columbia. Blueberries, a fruit native to North America grown
commercially in many states and provinces, are truly fit for a queen.
What's more - they are good for her too.
The blue in blueberries comes from the anthrocyanin pigment.
Anthrocyanins are called phytochemicals - phyto from the Greek word for
plant - or nutraceuticals because they act as antioxidants protecting
body cells against undesirable oxidative changes. Anthrocyanosides
prevent free radical damage with antioxidant and free radical scavaging
action.
The North American blueberry is related to the European
bilberry (vaccinium myrtillus). Bilberries have a very
high anthrocyanin content because the pigment
is in both the skin and the flesh. In the North American blueberry, the
pigment is only found in the skin. For that reason, small
berries have proportionally more anthrocyanin because the
proportion of skin to flesh is higher than in large berries. Because
wild (lowbush) berries are generally smaller than cultivated (highbush)
berries, the anthrocyanin content of the lowbush berries is generally
higher.
Bilberries have been used in folk medicine in Europe for centuries
and extracts of bilberry (sometimes mixed with blueberry extract) are sold
in health food stores in Europe and North America. Scientists are now
actively investigating the health benefits of the anthrocyanin pigment
in bilberries and blueberries. Promising research areas for the use
of extracts from these plants are in opthamological applications,
diabetes and inflammatory joint disease.
Dr. Willi Kalt, a plant physiologist from the Kentville
Agricultural Research Station in Nova Scotia, who is studying the
anthrocyanin content of blueberries provided the following comparison:
Anthrocyanin Content of Some Small Fruits
in mg per 100 g fresh weight
Cranberry 60 Currant, black 250
Currant, red 15 Grape, Merlot fruit 120
Raspberry, red 40 Raspberry, black 300
Strawberry 45 Blueberries- wild lowbush 200
Blueberries- highbush 100 Bilberries 450
Partridgeberry/Lingonberry 130 Blackberries 200
Blueberries belong to the genus vaccinium as do cranberries.
This may be the reason the blueberries are the only fruit with a
preventive action against urinary tract infections similar to
that of cranberries.
Judging by the tonnage of berries grown every year by some of the larger
volume producers - New Jersey, Michigan, British Columbia and Nova Scotia
- a lot of commoners enjoy those true blues too. Washington, Oregon,
Georgia, the New England States and the Province of Quebec also produce fine
berries. They are even grown now in Florida and Mississippi. Fine dining
establishments and specialty markets in the Northern Hemisphere
feature fresh blueberries from Australia, New Zealand and Chile in winter.
August is the height of the canning and preserving season in
North America and now is the time to head out to a U-Pick if
you live in a berry producing state or to load up your freezer
with fresh berries from the grocery store. If you buy in bulk,
a 30 pound box for instance, you can often negotiate a good price
at your local produce market.
I am passing on an address for a home page with
recipes developed by delta nutrition systems of Vancouver
for the British Columbia Blueberry Council's "Savour the Flavour"
("Savor the Flavor" south of 49) recipe booklet.
Simply point your browser to
http://www.worldexport.com/bcblue
and click on the photographs of the dishes that pique your
appetite. You can print out the recipes complete with pictures to
add to your collection.
For more blueberry recipes and blueberry health information,
head Down Under to this page in Australia:
http://www.netc.net.au/~trublue
--
:
Lawrence F. London, Jr., Venaura Farm, Chapel Hill, NC USA
mailto:london@sunSITE.unc.edu - http://sunSITE.unc.edu/london - InterGarden
mailto:london@mercury.interpath.net - http://www.interpath.net/~london
Organic Agriculture-Farmscaping-CSA-Permaculture-Renewable Energy Information
Piedmont Communities Online - Community-Bioregionalism-Environment Resources
mailto:piedmont@sunsite.unc.edu - http://sunsite.unc.edu/piedmont
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