Blueberry

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Blueberries are a fruit that has long been recognized as a real natural treasure because of its many health benefits. Its taste is also worthy of attention, as well as all other berries. The fruit is suitable not only for direct consumption, but also for jam, syrups and as an ingredient in various recipes.

Nature offers us variety in this fruit as well, as the choice in our country is between red, blue and blueberrythat grow in the high mountains. They can be distinguished by the leaves and the fruits.

How to distinguish blueberries from other species?

In blueberries the leaves are bluish-green in color, rounded in shape, with a blunt tip and a very important distinctive feature - the edge of the leaves is straight, there is no serration.

It is clear that the color decoration has determined the name of the blueberries in our country. However, the color of blueberry fruit can be defined as a bluish blue from the wax coating that covers them. The fruit can be mistaken for that of the bilberry, because the latter has the same waxy coating, but is slightly darker in color. There is another sign by which to distinguish the two fruits, so as not to make a mistake. There is a notch on the bottom of the fruit. In blueberry it is star-shaped, and in black it is round.

Classification and distribution of cranberries

Cranberry has the Latin name Vacciniim uliginosum, which is pronounced vaccine uliginosum. It belongs to the Pirenovi family and the Borovinkovi family. It is closest to the bilberry. Of the other names, it is most commonly found as Cranberry.

The blueberry is native from North America. It can be found in the lower parts of the Arctic. It is distributed in the northern and central parts of Europe. To the southeast, the area reaches Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of, the Caucasus, southwestern Asia and Siberia. In the east it can be found near Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, Korea, Japan, North America and Greenland.

In Bulgaria it grows in the mountains - Rila, Pirin, Western and Central Stara Planina, Vitosha, Osogovo, Western Sredna Gora, Western and Middle Rhodopes. It is located at an altitude of 1700 to 2500 meters. Loves the open stony, rocky and grassy areas in the high mountain belt. It grows on acidic soils and in swamps, tundra and undergrowth of coniferous forests.

Description of the blueberry

Blueberry is a small shrub, 10 to 50 centimeters high. Its stem is branched, erect, with a smooth brown bark. The leaves are deciduous, 6 to 20 millimeters long and 4 to 15 millimeters wide. Their shape is ovoid to round. The skin of the leaf is thin, with a rounded tip, with a waxy coating and bluish-green color.

The flowers are arranged from 1 to 3 in a group and are located on top of the old branches. The flower stalks are between 2 and 4 millimeters long and are bare.

The cups are four and five-part. It has a 4-5 mm long corolla, pale pink in color, with 4-5 sections. Stamens 8-10 in number.

The fruit is a juicy strawberry, round, 4-6 millimeters in diameter, bluish on the outside, greenish flesh on the inside and clear juice. The seeds are many in number, they are 1. 3-1 long. 5 millimeters, with an irregularly shaped edge, slightly curved. It blooms and binds fruit June and July-August.

Composition and nutritional qualities of blueberries

Of all kinds blueberry has the finest and most pleasant taste and is most often used for food in the form of compotes, jams, jellies or fresh. The fruit is edible, sweet, rich in tannin, malic and citric acid, high in vitamin C.

In nature blueberry bush always found next to wild rosemary. It releases volatile compounds that cause headaches. Because of this, blueberries were thought to have such an effect on the body and were called Headaches.

In nutritional composition it surpasses many other fruits. It has a huge variety of valuable ingredients that are in abundance and this determines its beneficial properties for health.

The fruit of the blueberry bush contains proteins, fats, carbohydrates, mineral salts, monosaccharides, water, organic acids and low calorie. This makes the fruit a suitable natural food.

The blueberry fruit is saturated with vital vitamins - A, B1, B2, carotenoids, K, R. Nicotinic and ascorbic acid are in excellent doses.

Minerals are represented by potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper. There are organic acids, among which are citric, malic, acetic, oxalic and benzoic.

IN the nutritional composition of blueberries includes 6 essential amino acids, as well as some tannins and dyes. Pectin, fiber and sugars are also some of the nutrients in blueberries.

The available anthocyanins are very valuable because they act as an antioxidant. They are much more common in blueberries than in blackberries. Thanks to these useful ingredients, the fruit has a rejuvenating and anticancer effect. With regular use, skin regeneration, natural formation of new collagen, cleansing of blood vessels from harmful toxins and cholesterol are observed.

Due to the fact that the capillary and arterial walls become more flexible and with good elasticity, the total volume of blood flow increases and the cells are saturated with oxygen.

The pectin it contains, plant fibers, tannins make blueberries a very suitable means of cleansing the body of toxins, slag, heavy metals and salts.

The fruit is low in calories and can be consumed by people on a low-calorie diet, as well as included in weight loss diets.

Curative and prophylactic properties of blueberry

With regular consumption of fatty foods, eating blueberries lowers triglycerides and melts fat around the abdomen.

Studies show that this berry reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. The positive effect of the fruit on the nervous system is due to the calming properties of the magnesium it contains.

It is an indispensable helper in the treatment of diabetes because it enhances the action of drugs that lower blood sugar. Fresh fruit has strong antimicrobial properties and has a good prophylactic effect for many infectious diseases such as dysentery. Its other numerous health benefits are: antiseptic, gas, stimulating metabolism, as well as general strengthening.

Areas of application of blueberries

It is used in diseases of: bladder, diarrhea, anemic conditions, enterocolitis complaints, eczema, lichens, inflammatory processes in the oral cavity and throat. For treatment are used both the fruit and other parts of the bush in the form of tea, decoction, infusion, cold extract.

For the needs of cosmetics, blueberry is part of masks to nourish the skin of the face, neck, hands.

A surprising fact from the culinary use of blueberries is that its juice is more useful than that of lemon, apple and grape.

If you want to take advantage of the health and taste qualities of blueberries, take a look at our suggestions for recipes with blueberries or make straight blueberry cheesecake or traditional blueberry pie.