Do you want to know more about blueberry health benefits, recipes and other facts?

In addition to being extraordinarily good to eat, fresh blueberries are extraordinarily good for you.

Current research has determined that blueberries seem to qualify as a super food. Benefits established to date include:

Cancer fighting Anti-oxidants- The pigment that makes blueberries blue makes them the number one source of anti-oxidants which consume cancer causing free radicals.

Anti-aging/ memory enhancement- Can't find your car keys? Eat more blueberries.Blueberries have been demonstrated to improve memory

Reduction of cardiovascular disease and stroke- Blueberries are rich in compounds that reduce bad cholesterol and promote cardiovascular health.

Infection fighting- a compound in blueberries has been demonstrated to fight urinary infection and is being considered as a pharmaceutical.

Improved eyesight- The european relative of the blueberry, the bilberry, has been demonstrated to improve visual acuity.

The amount of scientific research demonstrating the unique benefits of blueberries is truely amazing and seems to be accelerating.

To get more information about this research as well as great recipes and other blueberry facts visit the website of The United States Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC)


www.ushbc.org

Did you know that the "Fresh Blueberries" (other than Florida you buy in the spring may be 6 weeks old, picked green and "not quite rotten?"

If you wish to purchase fresh blueberries in late March and early April you should know that a very substantive quality choice is available.

Berries from the United States are from Florida. They were probably picked a few days before you see them in the market. They are truely fresh spring fruit.

Berries from the southern hemisphere, typically Chile, where summer and winter are reversed from ours, are actually late season (fall) fruit that have been held in controlled atmosphere storage for up to six weeks.

Controlled atmoshere (CA) storage is achieved by reducing oxygen and increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere around the stored fruit. It retards spoilage up to a point but does not stop it. Late stage CA fruit may appear quite attractive externally but interior decay processes can result in mushy consistancy, off flavors and severely reduced shelf life. Research on the healthful anti-oxidant benefits in such fruit is incomplete but it is generally accepted to be degraded. It certainly isn't improved.

Southern hemisphere fruit that is held in CA long enough to be marketed as "fresh" in early April is extremely lucrative to Southern Hemisphere suppliers. High yielding low cost varieties such as "Elliot" are sometimes picked underripe to extend the CA shelf life. An underripe Elliot is terrible bland fruit even without six weeks of storage.

Before this fruit reaches the United States markets it is sometimes visually degraded to the point that distributors will repack it, removing most of the obviously decayed fruit so as to maintain a fresh appearance on the rest.

Remember that you have a choice. Demand that your market offer you blueberries from the USA (Florida) and let them know that your fresh blueberries must be truely fresh.