One of summer's best-loved fruits has plenty of health benefits, so eat all you want.
Welcome to this week's edition of Something Wild. I'm Rosemary Conroy for the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
It's that time of year again, when we must pause to praise one of summer's glories - blueberry season. Right about now, these delicious and nutritious native fruits are ripening on shrubs high and low all across New Hampshire.
Freshly picked blueberries, one of summer's glories. (Courtesy Sonya Carlson)
If their beautiful color, delightful taste and easy picking aren't enough to inspire you to seek them out, consider this: scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have ranked blueberries the healthiest fruit of all, bar none. A one cup serving contains more disease-fighting antioxidants than any other fruit.
In addition to that, other studies have indicated that blueberries may help prevent blood clots, reduce artery inflammation and even help your memory. To top it all off, blueberries have no fat and only 83 calories per cup.
So eat all you want! And there are so many ways to eat blueberries - pied, crisped, juiced, smoothied, or my personal favorite, just plucked.
And this beneficial berry is easy to grow, especially in the acidic soils of this granite-bound state. You can plant the highbush variety, which make nice ornamental shrubs as well. Or you can use the lowbush strain as a natural, native ground cover. You may want to plant extra, though, because many songbirds love blueberries too.
If you don't want to be bothered growing your own, you can still come by these beneficial beauties really easily. There are plenty of pick your own operations throughout New England, where you can fill your buckets while supporting your local economy. Or you can stalk the wild blueberry, often found lining local ponds and lakes in good numbers. Picking them from a canoe or kayak is a delightful- and, of course, delicious - way to spend a summer day.
Whether you get your blueberries free or farmed, get them now, while they are at their peak flavor and production.
Something Wild is a joint production of New Hampshire Audubon, NHPR and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
For Something Wild, I'm Rosemary Conroy.
