Blueberry History
The blueberry of the genus
Vaccinium, is a native American species. In fact the blueberry
is one of the few fruits native to North America.
Native American Tradition: For centuries, blueberries
were gathered from the forests and the bogs by Native Americans and
consumed fresh or preserved. The Northeast Native American tribes
revered blueberries and much folklore developed around them. The blossom
end of each berry, the calyx, forms the shape of a perfect five-pointed
star; the elders of the tribe would tell of how the Great Spirit sent
"star berries" to relieve the children's hunger during a famine.
Blueberries were also used
for medicinal purposes along with the leaves and roots. A tea made
from the leaves of the plant was thought to be good for the blood. Blueberry
juice was used to treat coughs. The juice also made an excellent dye
for baskets and cloth. In food preparation, dried blueberries were added
to stews, soups, and meats. The dried berries were also crushed into
a powder and rubbed into meat for flavor. A beef jerky
called Sautauthig (pronounced saw'-taw-teeg) was made with dried blueberries
and meat and was consumed year round.
Blueberry
Terminology: Vaccinium is the family of all blueberries
and includes more than 450 plant types. This plant grows wild around the
world and there are many names given to different blueberries. For practical
and commercial purposes we concentrate on three different varieties:
V. corymbosum. (Northern Highbush) Grow wild in the forests of
North America and were used to cultivate the modern highbush or cultivated
blueberry industry along with the V. Ashei. (Botanical information)
V. ashei. (Southern Rabbiteye). You may be surprised to learn
that blueberries thrive in the Southern United States. A variety called the Rabbiteye
is named this because the calyx on the berry resembles the eye of the
rabbit! (Botanical Information)
V. angustifolium. (Lowbush or also called "Wild blueberries.").
These dwarf bushes are very cold hardy, surviving in the wild as far
north as Arctic North America. These blueberries only reach a height
of 1 to 2 feet and include the low sweet blueberry (V. angustifolium),
which is found from the Arctic to Minnesota and the mountains of New
York and New Hampshire; and the sour-tasting velvet-leaf blueberry (V.
myrtilloides), which is found wild throughout New England and west.
(Botanical Information)
Other Terms: Many different names have been given to
the numerous varieties of Vaccinium that produce edible fruits, such
as Blueberry, Bilberry, Cowberry, Cranberry, Crowberry; Farkleberry,
Lingonberry, Partridgeberry, Huckleberry (not the true Huckleberry,
which is Gaylussacia), Whortleberry, and Sparkleberry to mention a few.
Information Resource: www.botany.com/vaccinium.html
The Improved
Blueberry
For centuries blueberries maintained popularity in the United States,
with a thriving commercial business in the Northeastern United States and Canada.
An important step in the development of the highbush blueberry industry
came at the turn of the century. Efforts in the early 1900's by Elizabeth
White and Dr. Frederick Coville to domesticate the wild highbush blueberry
resulted in today's cultivated highbush blueberry industry. They selected
desirable plants from the wild forests of the Northeastern United States and cultivated
them to develop blueberries that could be commercially grown by farmers.
Their initial breeding work has resulted in the plump, juicy, sweet,
and easy to pick cultivated blueberry we enjoy today. Without this cultivation
work we would not have fresh blueberries in the marketplace as we do
today. We encourage you to visit a web site dedicated to the work of
Coville and White at the Whitesbog Preservation Trust.
Over the decades, plant breeders and pathologists have worked to identify
and enhance the desirable features of various cultivars of highbush
blueberries. For decades "cultivated" or "highbush"
blueberries have been improved through natural selection and plant breeding
programs to produce an optimal blueberry with desirable flavor, texture,
and color for fresh and processed markets. Cultivated varieties have
been enhanced to offer magnificent plump berries with deep, rich color
and a delicious fruity flavor. These plant breeding programs have resulted
in the development of superior berries both for the consumer and the
food processing industry. Our industry owes a great gratitude to the
many agriculturalists in the United States and abroad who have pioneered the development
of the US Highbush Blueberry industry!
Growing: 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 July, also known as National Blueberry Month. Highbush blueberries
are perennial, long-lived, deciduous, woody shrubs. They belong to the
family Ericaceae, which also includes such plants as cranberry, azalea,
rhododendron, and heather. Like the other ericaceous plants, blueberries
thrive in acid soils and do best in soils with a pH between 4 and 5.
Cultivars require from 120 to 160 growing degree days to ripen fruit.
Blueberry plants flower in spring, with flowers at the tip of canes
and the tip of the cluster opening first. They are pollinated by bees.
Fruit development occurs for about 2 to 3 months after bloom, depending
on cultivar, weather, and plant vigor. Sugar content of fruit will increase
during maturation to about 15 percent when fruit is ripe. Yields can
be as high as 20 tons per acre (T/A), although yields of 7 to 8 T/A
are typical of mature plantings. (growing resource)
More information is available from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council
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