American blueberries are weird

[natascha]

I was in the mood for some blueberries. Since it is not the season over here ( we are pretty much frozen right now), I bought some from the other side of the pond. They were bigger than normal but I did not really react to that. Don't they always say that Americans always have to be bigger and better than everyone else?

Got home and started to eat, I realized that they taste funny, very sweet and kinda bland. I look at them some more and arrive to the conclusion that No they are fine, not moldy and still very firm. Then I bite one in the middle.

What on earth! They are not blue! They are some weird whitish color. Started getting a bit mad, here I paid a lot of money for blueberries and I get some weird white wanna be blueberry

Off to Google it is. Weeeeell apparently what I have are "blueberry's", just some weird american kind.

Question 1: Are all your blueberries whitish over there?

Question 2: Any other examples of you thought you were getting one thing and getting another?

Reminds me of dragonfruit, I still have not figured out how to know if they are going to be the magenta colored ones inside or the bland white ones.

 

[natascha]

Wikipedia to the rescue!

Apparently american blueberries and Swedish blueberries are not even the same species! What we call blueberries you call bilberries.

That what you get from making direct translations. Still a bit irritated that the store called them blåbär ( direct translation blueberries) when they are not. I wanted blåbär not american blueberries

 

[MichelleCarmen]

We've lived in two houses that both had had a variety of blueberry bushes included in the landscaping. Some were very tiny and others were huge monster-size ones. We never put anything except organic fertilizer on them, so I know they were weren't some strange GMOs. It's just they way they were!

The bland taste may have been from them being frozen before rippening all the way. What I like to do is buy them in season and then wash them and pat dry them and put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. They'll freeze up like little marbles and roll around and can easily be put into a sealed up bag. Then I take them out and bake with them in the winter! Or make a smoothy!

ETA - I don't even know what a bilberry is.... guess my above answer is pointless now.... I'm off to find a bilberry! lol

 

[mary poppins]

they taste funny, very sweet and kinda bland.

Huh? How can it be both very sweet and kind of bland?

Blueberries are not in season in the U.S. right now. They are in season, with best size and sweetness, during the summer (sometimes a little earlier depending on the area). Regardless, they are blue on the outside and whitish on the inside.

Where are you from that you experience blueberries of a different color inside?

It's fun to try different fruits. Most recently, Mr. Poppins and I tried pomelos - a bag of six from Costco. We weren't too impressed when we tried eating one of them so I juiced the rest into a large container. It was a nice alternative to grapefruit juice

ETA: Oops, I don't know what a bilberry is either. I'll have to look out for them in the stores here and try them if I see them.

 

[mrs jam]

I love blueberries, and I typically eat a pint every morning for breakfast. My husband calls it my "blueberry habit." When I read your post, the first thing I did was to run to my kitchen and bite a blueberry in half to see what color it was inside. All these years and I had no idea they weren't blue inside! I guess I'm too busy shoveling them into my mouth to notice. I've never heard of bilberries; I will have to look those up! While I usually take my blueberries straight , I love to mix them with raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple.

Mary Poppins, I have to tell you that I smile whenever I see your name. Mary Poppins was my favorite book/movie character when I was little.

 

[jaysonsmom]

I used to live in Europe, and the first time I bit into an American blueberry I had the same reaction! I thought how weird, it's kinda white/opaque, instead of purple. They are also humongous aren't they?

 

[mrs jam]

Now I really want to try a European blueberry!

 

[natascha]

We've lived in two houses that both had had a variety of blueberry bushes included in the landscaping. Some were very tiny and others were huge monster-size ones. We never put anything except organic fertilizer on them, so I know they were weren't some strange GMOs. It's just they way they were!

The bland taste may have been from them being frozen before rippening all the way. What I like to do is buy them in season and then wash them and pat dry them and put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. They'll freeze up like little marbles and roll around and can easily be put into a sealed up bag. Then I take them out and bake with them in the winter! Or make a smoothy!

ETA - I don't even know what a bilberry is.... guess my above answer is pointless now.... I'm off to find a bilberry! lol[/quote]

These were fresh, apparently cultivated in Chile but using the american blueberry species. That was a great tip for freezing blueberry's. I am usually to lazy to pick them ( bilberry s grow on the ground one and one not in clusters like the american blueberry) but if I do I just freeze in one block but then they end up all mushed.

they taste funny, very sweet and kinda bland.

Huh? How can it be both very sweet and kind of bland?

Blueberries are not in season in the U.S. right now. They are in season, with best size and sweetness, during the summer (sometimes a little earlier depending on the area). Regardless, they are blue on the outside and whitish on the inside.

Where are you from that you experience blueberries of a different color inside?

It's fun to try different fruits. Most recently, Mr. Poppins and I tried pomelos - a bag of six from Costco. We weren't too impressed when we tried eating one of them so I juiced the rest into a large container. It was a nice alternative to grapefruit juice

ETA: Oops, I don't know what a bilberry is either. I'll have to look out for them in the stores here and try them if I see them.

Swedish blueberry's are quite tart and not as sweet as the american variety, that's why I felt the ones I bought were both sweet and bland at the same time. We usually make jam from them or use them in baking and then we add sugar since they are tart and not as sweet.

I am from Sweden and here they grow wild in the forest and have to be picked by hand. They are a deep purple inside which stains everything ha ha.

I love trying new fruit. I have lived in South Africa and Spain so I am used to so many different fruits than what is grown in Sweden. Here we have a lot of wild berries, pears and apples and that is pretty much it, everything else is imported. Oh and we grind rose-hip into a powder and make a sweet soup from it but I don't think rose-hip is a fruit.

I love blueberries, and I typically eat a pint every morning for breakfast. My husband calls it my "blueberry habit." When I read your post, the first thing I did was to run to my kitchen and bite a blueberry in half to see what color it was inside. All these years and I had no idea they weren't blue inside! I guess I'm too busy shoveling them into my mouth to notice. I've never heard of bilberries; I will have to look those up! While I usually take my blueberries straight , I love to mix them with raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple.

Mary Poppins, I have to tell you that I smile whenever I see your name. Mary Poppins was my favorite book/movie character when I was little.

That is so funny that you had not realized that your blueberry's are actually white. I mean when we see the blue skin we kinda expect the insides to be blue too . It seems like your blueberries don't really stain?

If you were in Sweden I don't think you would continue with your breakfast habit. For one, they are kinda tart but most importantly they stain, a lot. Eat a lot of blueberries and you end up like this:

 

[mrs jam]

You made me jump out of my chair! Now I'm going to have to check my mouth in the mirror after I eat my blueberries tomorrow morning!

 

[nkarma]

The blueberries you likely had are from South America. Unlike a lot of countries, America ships in fruit from other countries when they are out of season here. This leaves chain supermarkets full of bland, nutrionless, wax-like fruit all year around.

It looks like your blueberries are different. I will have to try some sometime. If you want good American blueberries, you have to go to a farmers market in the summer months (May to August typically).

 

[soocool]

Blueberries are native to the US and they are also known as biberries and hurtleberries. They are in the same family as azaleas and rhododendrons requiring acidic soils. I grow blueberries and usually get at least 15 quarts per a good season (late June/early July). These are very sweet and I do not use them for baking. I also put them on cookie sheets and freeze and then put into freezer bags to enjoy all winter long.

Hammonton, NJ in the Pine Barrens, is known as the Blueberry Capital of the World- (I believe is the 2nd largest producer of blueberries.First I believe is Michigan.) If I get a lousy crop or the birds somehow get to them, I go down to Jersey and pick my own. I have also had wild blueberries from Maine.

There are 3 types of blueberries: highbush (4-10 ft tall - which I have in my garden), lowbush (1-2ft tall - these taste the absolute best!) , and rabbiteye (10 - 25ft tall). PH is essential to a good crop (between 4 and 5.5) Highbush you can pick your own, lowbush are usually harvested with rakes.

Along with these types, each has many different varieties, which ripen at different times, and some are sweet for eating and others not so sweet that are excellent for baking.

So what you get in the stores depend on their variety - either sweet for eating or slightly tart for baking in pies, cakes.

 

[VRBeauty]

From Wikipedia's entry on bilberries:

The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry but with a fuller taste. Bilberries are darker in colour, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of purple. While the blueberry's fruit pulp is light green, the bilberry's is red or purple, heavily staining the fingers and lips of consumers eating the raw fruit. The red juice is used by European dentists to show children how to brush their teeth correctly, as any improperly brushed areas will be heavily stained.

I'd love to try some bilberries sometime!

 

[that_someone_special]

Wow... The things I never knew about blueberries!

 

[JewelFreak]

Scandinavia has the yummiest berries! Different from those we have here in the States. I don't like American blueberries -- no taste & often kind of a mealy texture. OK in baking but I've never liked them plain. By the time they got to Sweden -- whether from Chile or the U.S. -- they'd have been frozen, as nkarma said, & not in their best condition. Down here in North Carolina they grow them a lot, in season in the spring. Even fresh, they don't float my boat.

--- Laurie

 

[tuffyluvr]

The blueberries you likely had are from South America. Unlike a lot of countries, America ships in fruit from other countries when they are out of season here. This leaves chain supermarkets full of bland, nutrionless, wax-like fruit all year around.

It looks like your blueberries are different. I will have to try some sometime. If you want good American blueberries, you have to go to a farmers market in the summer months (May to August typically).

+1 I was thinking the same thing--that they were imported from Chile. All the summer fruit that's in markets here at the moment looks beautiful, but it's mealy and flavorless. The summer fuits from Chile that are raised for export are selected for their durability (they must be shipped thousands of miles!) and looks over flavor. Blueberries are summer fruit, and the most delicious ones are wild! And yes, they are whitish/yellowish/greenish inside with a few tiny black seeds.

 

[Imdanny]

I buy only organic blueberries (and only to put a little in the oatmeal every morning) and they are blue all the way through. I don't have any memory of something like what you're talking about but with the way food is processed (I mean in general) it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[MissStepcut]

I buy only organic blueberries (and only to put a little in the oatmeal every morning) and they are blue all the way through. I don't have any memory of something like what you're talking about but with the way food is processed (I mean in general) it wouldn't surprise me.

Really? Even our home-grown organic blueberries have white (actually slightly green), fleshy centers.

 

[akmiss]

We have Great blueberries in Alaska! They are small and stain your mouth, lips, hands, and everything else. I bet that Swedish berries would be similar. It must be the Northern climate. We also have low bush cranberries (ligonberry) and salmon berries (cloudberries?)

 

[TristanC]

Ah. Learned a new thing today. Now I have to go check what kind of blue/bil berry we are importing into Singapore! I think we get the american sort. I don't remember looking like the living dead after just a handful!

I also thought this thead would lead to the whole question of whether or not americans actually GET to eat blueberries:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19433_the-6-most-horrifying-lies-food-industry-feeding-you_p2.html

 

[Imdanny]

I buy only organic blueberries (and only to put a little in the oatmeal every morning) and they are blue all the way through. I don't have any memory of something like what you're talking about but with the way food is processed (I mean in general) it wouldn't surprise me.

Really? Even our home-grown organic blueberries have white (actually slightly green), fleshy centers.

Yes, although SO corrected me when I asked him about this. They're "more like purple than blue inside, with some red." That's about as accurate as I can get unless I can call them Fancy Reddish Purple.

 

[AGBF]

There was a lot in this thread I didn't know, but I want to say one thing I do know from practical experience (and which I think I hear from people in this thread, too). There is a difference between blueberries cultivated on huge factory farms and blueberries that grow in the wild. I have eaten blueberries I bought in a store that were big, white inside, and too bland. Those did not appeal to me as much as good store bought raspberry. When I picked wild blueberries on a mountain in Maine, however, the berries were small and delicious.

Deb/AGBF


PS-Where we vacationed in Maine one certain path used to allow us to eat blueberries, raspberries, and blackerries off the bushes as we walked! (Strawberries have a different season and grow low, too! I remember that from finding them as a child.)

 

[natascha]

I love all the info about blueberries! Am I weird that I think it is really interesting?

Now I am in the mood for warm cloud-berry's on ice cream. So good but so expensive. Now is not the season so you can't even import them since I think they only grow wild near the Arctic. Fun to know that you also have them in Alaska.

Quiz- Who has tried cloud-berry's and what did you think?


All this talk about blueberries led me to think about rutabagas. Which by the way is a really weird name, we just call them kålrot- directly translated cabbage root. Also called Swedes (UK and Australia) and Neeps (Scotland). I found out that in the US you buy them waxed. That I find really weird since they already have a very long shelf life naturally. Kinda like vacuum packed potatoes, so strange .

I think rutabagas should be embraced more often, so tasty, very nutritious and low cal. So anyone have any recipes to share?

 

[TooPatient]

Used to hate blueberries. The ones from the store are usually pretty flavorless.
I began to change my mind when we moved into a house next to a great old guy who grew his own and let us pick them. His blueberries were good.

We went camping a couple of years ago up in the mountains and picked the most amazing blueberries ever. They were so packed with flavor! They were small and just the right combination of tart but not too tart. I baked them into a pie when we got home and it was just yummy. Nothing I've tried since then has compared to those wild mountain blueberries.

Since then, we've decided to grow blueberries. We've now got 4 (5?) different varieties growing in our yard. There is a huge bush/tree in the backyard (no clue what variety) and we put in a bunch as a hedge along our front yard. One variety will grow to 8-10 feet tall and has medium sized slightly sweet berries. Another will stay between 3-5 feet and produces small tart berries. Nearest the street, we added a couple more bushes just for fun -- they call them "pink lemonade blueberries" because the berries are pink. I'm not sure how these will taste (we added last summer after they had fruited), but they look really pretty.
I think in total we have about 15 bushes?

 

[tuffyluvr]

I love all the info about blueberries! Am I weird that I think it is really interesting?

Now I am in the mood for warm cloud-berry's on ice cream. So good but so expensive. Now is not the season so you can't even import them since I think they only grow wild near the Arctic. Fun to know that you also have them in Alaska.

Quiz- Who has tried cloud-berry's and what did you think?


All this talk about blueberries led me to think about rutabagas. Which by the way is a really weird name, we just call them kålrot- directly translated cabbage root. Also called Swedes (UK and Australia) and Neeps (Scotland). I found out that in the US you buy them waxed. That I find really weird since they already have a very long shelf life naturally. Kinda like vacuum packed potatoes, so strange .

I think rutabagas should be embraced more often, so tasty, very nutritious and low cal. So anyone have any recipes to share?

I haven't tried cloud berries, but I'm going to Sweden in august. I'll make a point to try them! I love being able to try foods you can't get anywhere else whilst traveling!

Rutabagas: yes. A very strange name. In fact, as a tween my friend's and I had a favorite prank call schtick: "your dog is in my garden", prank victim: "what???" "your dog ees een mai garden, deeging up mai rutabagas!!!". Now as an adult, I like eating rutabagas, rather than making prank calls about them. I like doing a low-cal cottage pie with mashed rutabagas and turnips in place of potatoes and lean turkey instead of ground beef.

 

[AGBF]

I love turnips. I don't know if I ever had rutabaga, since I certainly didn't prepare it for myself! One dish that surprised me-that I loved-was salsify! I believe it is salsify, not salsifas. I shall look it up! I first ate it at a dinner at the The Rainbow Room for Dr. Aldo Gucci!!! Clearly, I did not prepare it myself!!!

Deb