Author: Ian McAllister
Berries are among the most popular of fruit in the warmer months when they are harvested. But remember that winter is summer in the other hemisphere. Health benefits from different berries include lowered risk of stroke, great with heavy fatty meats, antiviral, antifungal (cranberries for urinary infection), control of bowel movements (cures both extremes), diabetes, kidneys, cancer, whooping cough, multiple sclerosis, vision problems, PMS, respiratory problems, easier childbirth. In fact I may have to dedicate a new directory just to berries, because there is so much they can do for your health.
Berries have traditionally included blueberries, boysenberries, cranberries, currants, elderberries, dewberries, gooseberries, grapes, loganberries, rose hips, strawberries, raspberries, mulberry and blackberries but Americans are now discovering the berried treats available to people in other countries.
Nutrition
Most berries vary from 50 to 100 calories per serving if eaten raw. Berries are brimming with vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. In addition berries are loaded with phytates, and you can usually eat them raw, which avoids destroying lots of nutrients by cooking. You don't need large quantities of phytates to do you good, and most of them won't appear in the analysis, but they fight cataracts in your eyes, cancer, constipation, and raise your immune defences.
Most nutrients are concentrated in the skins, so be sure to eat the skins. For this reason wild blueberries (having more skin per pound) are healthier than the cultivated variety.
Choosing Your Berries
In general, berries should be dry, firm, well shaped, and eaten within a week after purchase. If you can’t eat them that soon, remember that berries freeze well! It’s best to buy berries that are ‘in-season’ as they’ll cost less and are more ripe and flavorful than ‘out-of-season’ berries.
Don't forget that you can also dry berries and even make fruit leather with them. You can buy berries that are over ripe in large quantities for a low price, because the vendor would have to throw them out if you didn't buy them.
These over ripe berries are great for popping into your blender and then spreading a quarter inch deep (5mm) on drying trays and drying into fruit leather. Most of your expense will be for the electricity involved in blowing warm air over the fruit pulp to dry it. Roll up the sheets of fruit leather to store.
Freezing berries is also possible, but they soon fill up your freezer, whereas dried berries (such as raisins) take up very little room.
Select blueberries that are firm, dry, plump, and smooth-skinned. Berries should be deep-purple blue to blue-black; reddish berries aren't ripe but can be used in cooking.
Select raspberries and blackberries that are unblemished dry, in an unstained container. Raspberries should be medium to bright red, depending on the variety. Blackberries should be shiny and black - avoid those that are dull or reddish. Moisture will increase spoilage, so the berries themselves should be relatively dry.
Shelf life for raspberries and blackberries is short, and they should be consumed within 2-3 days of purchase. Eat at room temperature for fullest flavor.
Currants should still be firmly attached to their stems.
Strawberries should be a bright shade of red and the caps on the berries should be green and fresh looking.
Picking Berries
Half the fun of eating berries comes from picking them. Many a happy hour have I spent climbing round mulberry trees eating mulberries and popping some of them into the basket. I'ts easy to spot berries that are past it. If you happen to like sour things, as I do, you can eat some of the almost ripe berries too.
Picking blackberries in a group is fun too, because you all compete to find the best bushes and ways to get to the most inaccessible ones. English gooseberries are great picking if you are the only one wearing armoured plastic gloves against the thorns.
Blackberries
Blackberries have a similar appearance to raspberries, but they are larger, hardier, and have a dark purple to black color. In general for this berry, the more intense color, the more sweet the fruit. There are blackberry hybrids that include boysenberries, loganberries, and ollalieberries, which are all, tart tasting and primarily used in jams and pies, which I think is a shame. When I'm picking them I eat as many as I put in the basket until I'm full.
Blackberry peak season is June and July with harvesting beginning in May and ending in september. Of course, that is for the Nortern hemisphere. In Western Australia blackberries are considered to be a pest and the government has a spraying program to try to eradicate them. That means that you have to keep your eyes open for warning signs about spraying having been conducted before you start picking.
Each 100 grams of raw blackberries contain
- 88% water
- 1.39% protein
- 9.6% carbohydrate
- 5.3% fibre
- 29 mg calcium
- 20 mg magnesium
- 22 mg phosphorus
- 162 mg potassium
- 21 mg vitamin C
- 25 micrograms folate
- 214 IU vitamin A
- 20 micrograms vitamin K
- 128 micrograms beta carotene
- 118 micrograms Lutein zeaxanthin
Blueberries
Wild blueberries are smaller in size compared to their cultivated cousins, but most of the nutrients are in the skins, so the smaller size means more concentrated nutrients.
Blueberries have a protective light powdery coating on the skins and tend to last longer than other berry varieties. Nearly half of the cultivated blueberries grown are sold as fresh blueberries.
Fresh blueberries are available for nearly eight months of the year from producers across the United States and Canada. North America is the world's leading blueberry producer, accounting for nearly 90% of world production at the present time. The North American harvest runs from mid-April through early October, with peak harvest in mid-May to August.
A hundred grams of raw blueberries contain
- 84% water
- 14.5% carbohydrate
- 2.4% fibre
- 12 mg phosphorus
- 77 mg potassium
- 6 microgram folate
- 54 IU Vitamin A
- 19 microgram vitamin K
- 32 microgram beta carotene
- 80 microgram Lutein zeaxanthin
Currants
Currants are berries that look similar to grapes but are very tart. Because of their tartness, they are primarily used for jams and jellies. You don't need to be scared of the tartness, which comes from vitamin C. Try to acquire a taste for tart things like raw acerola cherries, which produce more vitamin C than any other berries.
Each hundred grams of red or white or (black) currants contain
- 84% (82%) water
- 13.8% (15.4%) carbohydrate
- 4.3% fibre (0)
- 33 mg (55 mg) calcium
- 13 mg (24 mg) magnesium
- 44 mg (59 mg) phosphorus
- 275 mg (322 mg) potassium
- 41 mg (181 mg) vitamin C
- 8 micrograms folate
- 42 IU (230 IU) vitamin A
- 11 micrograms vitamin K
- 25 micrograms beta carotene
- 47 micrograms Lutein zeaxanthin
- 0 (1000 micrograms) vitamin E
Raspberries
The most delicate of the berry family, raspberries have a similar structure to blackberries but have a hollow core. Therefore, this fruit requires delicate handling during preparation. Red raspberries are the most common type but there are also golden, amber, and purple berries all similar in taste and texture.
Red and white currants are grown domestically while the black currants are grown in Europe. Fresh currants are available July through August.
A hundred grams of raw raspberries contain
- 86% water
- 12% carbohydrates
- 25 mg calcium
- 22 mg magnesium
- 29 mg phosphorus
- 151 mg potassium
- 26 mg vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
- 21 micrograms folate
- 33 IU vitamin A
- 12 microgram beta carotene
- 16 microgram alpha carotene
- 136 microgram Lutein zeaxanthin
Strawberries
Perhaps the most popular of all the berries, strawberries have the most vitamin C of the berry family. I suppose that means that acerola cherries aren't normally considered as berries. Acerolas have typically 1677.6 mg vitamin C for every hundred grams.
Now there are more than seventy varieties of strawberries grown in the USA, many of which are grown in California and Florida. This familiar fruit is usually available fresh year round with a peak from April to July.
A hundred grams of raw strawberries contain the following (non exclusive list)
- 91% water
- 7.68% carbohydrates including 4.66% sugars
- 2% total dietary fibre
- 16 mg calcium
- 13 mg magnesium
- 24 mg phosphorus
- 153 mg potassium
- 59 mg vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
- 24 micrograms folate
- 12 IU of vitamin A
- 7 micrograms beta carotene
- 26 micrograms lutein and zeaxanthin
Mulberries
The purple ones will tell you when the kids picking them have been eating them because their mouths will be stained purple. A glorious time is had by all. The white ones don't stain which spoils the fun.
100 gm raw mulberries contain the following, but kids eat more during picking.
- 88% water
- 9.8% carbohydrate
- 39 mg calcium
- 18 mg magnesium
- 38 mg phosphorus
- 194 mg potassium
- 36 mg vitamin C
- 6 micrograms folate
- 25 IU vitamin A
- 7.8 micrograms vitamin K
- 9 micrograms beta carotene
- 12 micrograms alpha carotene
- 136 micrograms Lutein zeaxanthin
