Facts About Blueberries

It is a popular fruit the world over, which is why blueberry cultivation spread from the US to many other countries. The blueberry bush is native to North America. Technically, the blueberry is a flowering plant. It belongs to the Vaccinium genus and the Cyanococcus section. According to their sizes the blueberry plants are divided into two sections. The first is the wild blueberry or the "low bush blueberries". The second section is that of the "high bush blueberry". The average height of any blueberry bush is about 10 cm to 4 m. The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen. The blueberry bush starts bearing fruits in late April and this continues till the month of June. The best quality of these berries are seen in July, which is the National Blueberry Month in nations like United States of America and Germany.

The diameter of a blueberry is about 5 to 16 mm. There is a flared up crown at the end of the fruit. The blueberry at the initial period of its growth is greenish in color. Tasting such a greenish berry is not very advisable as the berry tends to be very sour and sticky on the inside. The berry then bears a reddish purple kind of shade. The blueberries upon ripening, turn into a shade of indigo and also taste sweet, along with with a slight tinge of sourness. By the end of June and beginning of July you can finally relish the blueberry.

Funny Facts About Blueberries

• The Colonists in America made grey paint in a very unique and different way, by boiling a mixture of the blueberries and milk.
• North America is the biggest producer of blueberries and blueberry based products. Want to know some statistics? If the annual produce of blueberries in North America are laid down in a single layer, they would cover a 4-lane highway from Chicago to New York.
• The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) was the first institute to initiate the commercial production of blueberries. Since its commercialization, many plantations have come up across the world to facilitate the production of blueberries giving rise to blueberry based products.
• In the United States of America itself, about 200 million pounds of blueberries are produced annually on a commercial basis.
• After strawberries which ranks first, blueberry is the second most popular berry among people.
• People from northern Europe believed that blueberry is God's gift. This fact is somewhat true because there are many compounds present in the blueberry that have anti-viral and anti-bacterial elements. A regular intake of blueberry prevents most of the common contagious diseases. It is also said to prevent heart diseases.
• Out of the total production of blueberries, 25% is produced in Maine. In fact, this place produces the largest quantity of blueberries in the world.
• More? The United States of America produces about 90% of the world's blueberry production. About 100 metric tonnes of it is shipped to Iceland and 500 metric tonnes to Japan.

This delightful berry has also been made the mascot of some states in the US. The muffin made from blueberry is the official state muffin of Minnesota. It is also adopted as the official provincial berry for Nova Scotia, Canada. Blueberry is the official fruit of the state of New Jersey.

The Blueberry over the World

Blueberry is a fruit that people are very fond of all over the world. It's cultivation in the US is high in places like Michigan, Florida, Georgia and even North Carolina. Even though it's basically a North American fruit, it is also cultivated commercially throughout the world. Canada also has a very high cultivation of blueberries, especially in Quebec.

The highland blueberries were introduced in 1930s in regions like Germany, France, Austria and Netherlands. Blueberry is also produced in the the southern hemisphere, in nations like Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and South Africa. It is also cultivated in New Zealand.

With so many produces of blueberry in the world, we can enjoy this fruit and also delicacies like muffins, jams and jellies that are made from it.