Bloobs


In my family, they're called Bloobs. Blueberries. And we are mid-season here in blueberry country. My time of year for overdoing things with this lovely fruit.

Blueberries are one of the Great Foods at our disposal. A super food. Loaded with antioxidants, especially anthocyanin, the stuff that makes blueberries blue, these little berries are thought to lower LDL cholesterol, ward off Alzheimers, hold off age-related diseases, protect you from urinary tract diseases. Because they're high in fiber, they are one of the best fruits out there for diabetics and dieters and anyone who needs to control blood sugar swings.

They grow two ways. Wild blueberries are the low-bush variety. They are a cultivated crop, despite their name, yielding the pea-sized fruit that we normally encounter frozen. Then there are the cultivated, high-bush variety, with a nearly grape-sized fruit (depending on the grape), which we're more likely to find in the produce section from mid summer through late fall. The growers of these two varieties like to quibble with one another over the relative benefits of their crops. But it appears that all bloobs are good bloobs.

And they make your tongue blue and your poop green. Who doesn't need a little more color in their day?

It's interesting to me to note that blueberry researchers out there eat as much as a cup a day of these things, year 'round.

I love them fresh, and buy them in great big boxes this time of year, eating them in fistfuls, and throwing them in just about everything: smoothies, salads, stewed into sauces for pork, chicken, fish.

Broiled on top of salmon, on top of grapefruit, or served with ricotta or whipped cream.

I love to pair them with cantaloupe and strawberries, of course, love them with feta cheese and oranges and nuts in a salad.

I love them warm, stewed with basil and even a little rosemary and dolloped on my oatmeal.

I love to freeze blueberries stewed with mint, and shave the freeze into a terrific blueberry ice.

I love to sort through Epicurious recipies for ones I can make without flour or sugar or try with Splenda instead.

The rest of the year I will buy them frozen, sugar-free, and use them in my morning protein shakes or evening smoothies.

But for now, I'm eating them by the fistful, glad for the bounty.

JuJu

Epicurious blueberry recipies
Bloobs and Your Health
My Home State's Highbush Site

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