Blueberry
Blueberry | |
---|---|
Vaccinium caesariense | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Ericaceae |
Genus: | Vaccinium |
Section: | Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus Rydb. |
Species | |
See text |
Blueberry is a widely distributed and widespread group of
Blueberries are usually prostrate shrubs that can vary in size from 10 centimeters (4 inches) to 4 meters (13 feet) in height. In commercial production of blueberries, the species with small, pea-size berries growing on low-level bushes are known as "lowbush blueberries" (synonymous with "wild"), while the species with larger berries growing on taller, cultivated bushes are known as "highbush blueberries". Canada is the leading producer of lowbush blueberries, while the United States produces some 40% of the world supply of highbush blueberries.
Origin and history of cultivation
The genus Vaccinium has a mostly circumpolar distribution, with species mainly present in North America, Europe, and Asia.[1] Many commercially available species with English common names including "blueberry" are from North America,[3] particularly Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States for wild (lowbush) blueberries, and several US states and British Columbia for cultivated (highbush) blueberries.[4][5] First Nations peoples of Canada consumed wild blueberries for millennia.[4] Highbush blueberries were first cultivated in New Jersey around the beginning of the 20th century.[5][3]
North American native species of blueberries are grown commercially in the Southern Hemisphere in Australia, New Zealand and South American nations. The Colombian or Andean blueberry,
Description
Five species of blueberries grow wild in Canada, including Vaccinium myrtilloides, Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium corymbosum, which grow on forest floors or near swamps.[7] Wild (lowbush) blueberries are not planted by farmers, but rather are managed on berry fields called "barrens".[4]
Wild blueberries reproduce by
Highbush (cultivated) blueberries prefer sandy or
are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish.The fruit is a berry 5–16 mm (3⁄16–5⁄8 in) in diameter with a flared crown at the end; they are pale greenish at first, then reddish-purple, and finally uniformly blue when ripe.[8] They are covered in a protective coating of powdery epicuticular wax, colloquially known as the "bloom".[7] They generally have a sweet taste when mature, with variable acidity.[7][8] Blueberry bushes typically bear fruit in the middle of the growing season: fruiting times are affected by local conditions such as climate, altitude and latitude, so the time of harvest in the northern hemisphere can vary from May to August.[7][8]
Species
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2020) |
Note: habitat and range summaries are from the Flora of New Brunswick, published in 1986 by Harold R. Hinds, and Plants of the Pacific Northwest coast, published in 1994 by Pojar and MacKinnon.
- Vaccinium angustifolium (lowbush blueberry):[9][3] acidic barrens, bogs and clearings, Manitoba to Labrador, south to Nova Scotia; and in the United States, from Maine westward to Iowa and southward to Virginia
- Vaccinium boreale (northern blueberry): peaty barrens, Quebec and Labrador (rare in New Brunswick), south to New York and Massachusetts
- Vaccinium caesariense (New Jersey blueberry)
- Vaccinium corymbosum (northern highbush blueberry)[9]
- Vaccinium darrowii (evergreen blueberry)
- Vaccinium elliottii (Elliott blueberry)
- Vaccinium formosum (southern blueberry)
- Vaccinium fuscatum (black highbush blueberry; syn. V. atrococcum)
- Vaccinium hirsutum (hairy-fruited blueberry)
- Vaccinium myrsinites (shiny blueberry)
- Vaccinium myrtilloides (sour top, velvet leaf, or Canadian blueberry)
- Vaccinium pallidum (dryland blueberry)
- Vaccinium simulatum (upland highbush blueberry)
- Vaccinium tenellum (southern blueberry)
- Vaccinium virgatum (rabbiteye blueberry; syn. V. ashei)[9]
Some other blue-fruited species of Vaccinium:
- Vaccinium koreanum (Korean blueberry)
- Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry or European blueberry)
- Vaccinium uliginosum (bog bilberry/blueberry, northern bilberry or western blueberry)
-
Wild blueberry in autumn foliage, Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, in October
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A maturing 'Polaris' blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)
-
A selection of blueberries, showing the typical sizes of the berries. The scale is marked in centimeters.
The lowbush varieties are V. angustifolium, V. boreale, V. mytilloides, V. pallidum, and V. angustifolium × V. corymbosum. They are still grown in a similar manner to pre-Columbian semi-wild cultivation, i.e.
Identification
Commercially offered blueberries are usually from species that naturally occur only in eastern and north-central North America. Other sections in the genus are native to other parts of the world, including the Pacific Northwest and southern United States,[10] South America, Europe and Asia. Other wild shrubs in many of these regions produce similar-looking edible berries, such as huckleberries and whortleberries (North America) and bilberries (Europe). These species are sometimes called "blueberries" and are sold as blueberry jam or other products.
The names of blueberries in languages other than English often translate as "blueberry", e.g.
Cyanococcus blueberries can be distinguished from the nearly identical-looking bilberries by their flesh color when cut in half. Ripe blueberries have light green flesh, while bilberries, whortleberries and huckleberries are red or purple throughout.
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
---|---|
Energy | 240 kJ (57 kcal) |
14.49 g | |
Sugars | 9.96 g |
Dietary fiber | 2.4 g |
0.33 g | |
0.74 g | |
Niacin (B3) | 3% 0.418 mg |
Pantothenic acid (B5) | 2% 0.124 mg |
Vitamin B6 | 3% 0.052 mg |
Folate (B9) | 2% 6 μg |
Vitamin C | 11% 9.7 mg |
Vitamin E | 4% 0.57 mg |
Vitamin K | 16% 19.3 μg |
Minerals | Quantity %DV† |
Calcium | 0% 6 mg |
Iron | 2% 0.28 mg |
Magnesium | 1% 6 mg |
Manganese | 15% 0.336 mg |
Phosphorus | 1% 12 mg |
Potassium | 3% 77 mg |
Sodium | 0% 1 mg |
Zinc | 2% 0.165 mg |
Other constituents | Quantity |
Water | 84 g |
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[11] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[12] |
Culinary use
Blueberries are sold fresh or are processed as
Blueberry jam is made from blueberries, sugar, water, and fruit pectin. Blueberry sauce is a sweet sauce prepared using blueberries as a primary ingredient.
Blueberry wine is made from the flesh and skin of the berries, which is fermented and then matured; usually the lowbush variety is used.
Nutrients
Blueberries consist of 14%
Phytochemicals and research
Blueberries contain anthocyanins, other polyphenols and various phytochemicals under preliminary research for their potential biological effects.[13] Most polyphenol studies have been conducted using the highbush cultivar of blueberries (V. corymbosum), while content of polyphenols and anthocyanins in lowbush (wild) blueberries (V. angustifolium) exceeds values found in highbush cultivars.[14]
-
A cut blueberry showing how, having been frozen and then thawed, thepericarp are able to run into the damaged cells, staining the flesh.
-
Structure of anthocyanins, the blue pigments in blueberries.[13]
Cultivation
Blueberries may be cultivated, or they may be picked from semiwild or wild bushes. In North America, the most common cultivated species is V. corymbosum, the
So-called "wild" (lowbush) blueberries, smaller than cultivated highbush ones, have intense color. The
"Wild" has been adopted as a marketing term for harvests of managed native stands of lowbush blueberries. The bushes are not planted or selectively bred, but they are pruned or burned over every two years, and pests are "managed".[16]
Numerous highbush
The
Successful blueberry cultivation requires attention to
Blueberry bushes often require supplemental fertilization,[23] but over-fertilization with nitrogen can damage plant health, as evidenced by nitrogen-burn visible on the leaves.[22][23]
Growing regions
Significant production of highbush blueberries occurs in
United States
In 2018,
Hammonton, New Jersey, claims to be the "Blueberry Capital of the World",[28] with over 80% of New Jersey's cultivated blueberries coming from this town.[29] Every year the town hosts a large festival, which draws thousands of people to celebrate the fruit.[30]
Maine is known for its wild blueberries,[31] but the state's lowbush (wild) and highbush blueberries combined account for 10% of all blueberries grown in North America. Some 44,000 hectares (110,000 acres) are farmed, but only half of this acreage is harvested each year due to variations in pruning practices.[32] The wild blueberry is the official fruit of Maine.[33]
Canada
Canadian production of wild and cultivated blueberries in 2015 was 166,000 tonnes valued at $262 million, the largest fruit crop produced nationally accounting for 29% of all fruit value.[34]
British Columbia was the largest Canadian producer of cultivated blueberries, yielding 70,000 tonnes in 2015,[34] the world's largest production of blueberries by region.[35]
Québec is a major producer of wild blueberries, especially in the regions of
Europe
Highbush blueberries were first introduced to Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands in the 1930s, and have since been spread to numerous other countries of Europe.[2] V. corymbosum only began to be cultivated in Romania in a few years leading up to 2018 and rapidly increased in production and sales in that time (as with berries in general). As of 2018[update] it remains relatively unmolested by pests and diseases (see Diseases below).[41]
Southern Hemisphere
In the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa,[42] and Zimbabwe grow blueberries commercially.[43]
In Brazil, blueberries are produced in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo and Minas Gerais.[44]
Blueberries were first introduced to Australia in the 1950s, but the effort was unsuccessful. In the early 1970s, the Victorian Department of Agriculture imported seed from the U.S. and a selection trial was started. This work was continued into the mid-1970s when the Australian Blueberry Growers' Association was formed.[45]
In the 21st century, the industry grew in
Pests and diseases
Diseases
As of 2018[update] V. corymbosum remains relatively unmolested by pests and diseases in Romania, with
Pest management
Pesticides
DDT began to be used in blueberry soon after its discovery in 1939, and a few years later in the mid-1940s research began into its use in North America.[3]
Because "wild" is a marketing term generally used for all low-bush blueberries, it is not an indication that such blueberries are free from pesticides.[49]
Insecticide modes of action must be varied to avoid encouraging resistance in the invasive pest Drosophila suzukii.[3]
Some
Integrated pest management
Blueberries are naturally relatively unmolested by
Changes in locale and environment – to new geographies, and into
International quarantine
Rhagoletis mendax is a
Resistant cultivars
Insect resistance was not a priority in
Production
Country | Production (tonnes) |
---|---|
United States | 351,130 |
Peru | 227,971 |
Canada | 146,551 |
Chile | 122,795 |
Mexico | 66,482 |
Spain | 61,230 |
World | 1,113,261 |
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations[50]
|
In 2021, world production of blueberries (lowbush and highbush combined) was 1.1 million tonnes, led by the United States with 32% of global production, Peru with 20%, and Canada with 13% (table).[50]
In 2019, Canada was the largest producer of wild blueberries, mainly in
Regulations
Canada
Canada No. 1 blueberries are all similar in size, shape, weight, and color—the total product can be no more than ten percent off-color and three percent otherwise defective.[53]
See also
References
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- ^ a b c d Becky Sideman (August 1, 2016). "Growing fruit: Highbush blueberries" (PDF). University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
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Further reading
- Retamales, J. B., Hancock, J. F. (2012). Blueberries (Crop Production Science in Horticulture). CABI. ISBN 978-1-84593-826-0
- Sumner, Judith (2004). American Household Botany: A History of Useful Plants, 1620–1900. Timber Press. p. 125. ISBN 0-88192-652-3.
- Wright, Virginia (2011). The Wild Blueberry Book. Down East Books. ISBN 978-0-89272-939-5.