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How the British found their thrill on blueberry hill
Destined for muffins, fruit salads and snackpots
Sales of blueberries have overtaken those of raspberries. But why have British fruit lovers developed such a taste for these little juicy gems?
Small, sweet yet tart, firm to the bite. And hailed as a superfood.
The same could be said of many native berries, which are better suited to the UK's growing conditions and have a similar nutritional profile. Yet blackcurrants, gooseberries and blackberries struggle to find space on supermarket shelves, which are increasingly given over to blueberries.
Even raspberries, a longtime domestically-grown favourite, have been overtaken in popularity by blueberries. Sales of the US favourite are about 15,000 tonnes a year - up from 1,000 a decade ago, according to the trade body British Summer Fruits.
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How did the UK find its thrill in a fruit which grows prolifically in North and South America but much less so within these shores?
Harry Hall, whose farm in Berkshire is the UK's largest blueberry grower, says it's partly down to commercial viability and clever marketing.
"The beauty of the blueberry is that you can put it on a ship and it can travel for 21 days, and spend another seven days getting to the customer," he told BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme. "You can't do that with raspberries and strawberries and blackberries.
"From a marketing point of view, it's a great product. It's very snackable, it tastes good, you can eat quite a lot of them."
Its long shelf-life - especially compared with traditional British berries - is appealing for retailers and shoppers as neither likes to be stuck with punnets of rotting soft fruit. And with labour in Chile and Argentina costing about one-tenth of that in the UK, prices can be kept competitive.
Then there is the happy marriage between blueberries and new favourites such as muffins, smoothies and stacked pancakes.
No wonder British growers are getting in on the act, despite the difficulties of growing an acid-loving plant in a nation with largely alkaline soil, and its susceptibility to pests. Two years ago, domestic production was 300 tonnes; today it's 1,500 tonnes.
The Royal Horticultural Society wants to fan interest in what are known in the trade as "minor berries" such as gooseberries and blackberries, because the British are losing the taste for them.
Here's one reason...
Christopher Stocks, the author of Forgotten Fruits, is saddened at the new-found enthusiasm for blueberries.
"Some of our own native soft fruit are very fine in themselves, and just as healthy for you as blueberries. So this idea of them being a wonderfood is down to marketing rather than reality."
He is particularly disappointed that the gooseberry - a fruit which has grown here since at least 1275 - has fallen off a commercial cliff.
Many varieties still grown today came out of a "gooseberry renaissance" from 1750 to 1850, when Lancashire weavers used their leisure time to indulge in competitive gardening.
"They raised racing pigeons and they grew giant leeks and giant onions. And every year, people would compete to try and grow the largest gooseberry in Britain. There were hundreds of these competitions, and one or two are still going today."
What plant breeders want
Continue reading the main story
- A firm berry, that will keep and looks appealing
- And good flavour - but that's not top of the list
The contests caught the imagination of Charles Darwin, who used stats from the winning specimens to help develop his theory of evolution.
So could other berries benefit from a spot of blueberry-style smart marketing?
No, says food writer Lucas Hollweg, who regards blueberries as an "easy listening fruit".
"It's difficult to reverse the tide. People have become used to the accessible, eat-straight-out-of-the-punnet fruits. People's taste buds have got used to that, and going back is quite hard."
Now I know blueberries don't come from this continent, I shall switch back to the old favourites... thanks for letting me know.
Nadine, blueberries grow wild in Europe, mainly in Scandinavia and in mountain regions (the Alps, for example). What comes from America are the large, cultivated ones. Wild blueberries tastes much nicer.
Yet again, "Britain" is used as a synonym for England. Contrary to what is stated, soils are usually naturally acid in Scotland and blueberries can be grown easily enough.
If the RHS is having problems persuading people to eat "minor berries" like gooseberries and blackberries can they let me know please. I'm pretty sure I could manage to eat a few hundred weight of both.
Living with my parents who have started growing their own raspberries and blackberries. More people should grow their own fruit, they are super-delicious. I'd chose them over blueberries any day of the week.
Blueberries taste of nothing, but you can't buy anything else anymore. Never see black currants anymore and they're my favourite flavour of all.
Chris, over 80% of UK blackcurrants go towards making a certain fruit drink. That may account for you not being able to find them in shops.
I don't understand the comments that blueberries taste of nothing in particular. Like all fruit, you can buy them in various degrees of ripeness (often within the same punnet). But ripe blueberries are delicious, as are raspberries and blackberries. My daughters (3 & 5) love them all, and I'm not going to complain about any fruit they eat.
I live in Canada and cultivated blueberries are everywhere. If you go to the supermarkets, apart from strawberries, blueberries and kiwi fruit (which also grows here, despite its name), you'd think that there were no other soft fruits at all. Happily, at this time of the year, there are many locally grown blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, black, red and white currants and gooseberries. Consumers who enjoy food are much better to source these at local markets. Farmers' markets in the UK are a bit different, but consumers may find more varieties through such shops. Don't cave in to the mass market growers and distributors. Support the domestic fruits. You can reverse the tide through marketing - local growers should get together and promote local fruits.
I've been picking and/or eating wild blueberries since 1948 and I intend to stick with them and shun the commercial. "Good flavour not at the top of the list" - you are so right. All plumped up with water and equally as bland. Grow your own from wild stock. Not only tasty, but healthy.
We grow blueberries in the back garden. They have no pips, they aren't furry, and they taste particularly nice in muffins.
Gooseberries need a lot of sugar added as they are a very tart fruit, so not as healthy. Plus they don't look as appealing. As a child, when our school served up gooseberry tart, we renamed it "snot pie" as quite frankly that's what it looked like.
My grandfather had several gooseberries in his allotments, one was called the Sulphur berry. It was small, about the 1.5 to 2cm, yellow, almost seed-free and very sweet. As kids we used to eat them straight off the bush. Bring it back and you have a great British fruit.
Blueberries may not be from Europe, but their much better tasting relatives are - bilberries. And what's more I've never even seen them on sale in the UK, you have to go walking in the Welsh or Scottish hills to find them - but they're free and delicious.
I love all soft fruit except blackcurrants which I find rather bitter. I had some gooseberries the other day, for the first time for years, and they were gorgeous. I lament the difficulty of finding them, and redcurrants, which are almost my favourite. Blueberries, yes, great, but don't let's lose the others.
As a child growing up in Aberbargoed, South Wales, we spent many a happy day picking wild wimberries (blueberries) on the graig. Why this sudden fascination with American blueberries? Our own are much better.
We have the naturally occurring bilberries/blueberries in the UK. We used to pick them all the time as children. Why are we importing stuff when these are much better - and free on the hillsides... Oh yeah, you actually have to get up out of your chair to pick them.
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