2023-07-11 12:31:17
AT THE TABLE Local superfruit
Blueberries are considered healthy – and yet they are near their end
Status: 2:31 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Little miracle: the European blueberry
Quelle: Getty Images/Westend61
Nitrogen in the forest floor, the competition from America: The second most popular berry in Germany does not have it easy. It is considered a health-promoting all-rounder. A lament for the season.
I love blueberries,” says Eckart von Hirschhausen in an episode of the ARD program “Wissen vor 8”: They contained potassium, folic acid, iron: “It strengthens the immune system, regenerates cells, lowers blood pressure. And, uh, one more thing, wait a minute, oh yeah: It’s supposed to protect once morest dementia.”
Despite this classic of the questionable category “dementia joke”, the science author in his short article “Why the blueberry is disappearing from our forests” from last year (still available in the media library) does not feel like joking. Because the finding is serious: the blueberry, or blueberry, is threatened. And not just since yesterday.
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This is surprising, because according to the Federal Statistical Office, it is the second most popular berry in Germany following the strawberry. It can be found in many smoothies and other lifestyle drinks, which signal with a juicy violet color: The “local superfruit” blueberry is in here. And they are on the fruit shelf in small, self-confidently priced plastic bowls, usually next to raspberries and blackberries. What the black, red and blue trio have in common: They are indestructible.
Ideally, raspberries and blackberries are wonderfully aromatic and juicy masterpieces of nature. Unfortunately, the tiny, grape-shaped stone fruits are so fragile that they are almost unsuitable for transport and therefore not suitable for supermarkets. Through skilful breeding, they have become stable small sculptures with a weak aroma. They still masquerade as fruit, but behave like 3D printed creatures.
About the favorite berry of the Germans
The situation is similar with the blueberry. Because it is no longer the small, aromatic specimen from the forest floor that is for sale, but the more robust American sister, whose shrubs grow up to three meters high and whose fruits are larger and paler. They are also the ones that are bred on pick-your-own farms. Like many other imported plants or animals (e.g. the American squirrel), they are crowding out the weaker domestic competition.
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Not only von Hirschhausen, born in 1967, raves regarding collecting the fruit in the forest (and the blue tongue following eating it) in his childhood days. For many of his generation, the blueberry is still associated with family trips to coniferous forests with their mysterious, steaming soil, with endless rummaging and the feeling of happiness when you find something.
And who knows: maybe you would meet a fox that lived in the roots of a fallen tree. By the way, he is responsible for a certain reluctance today when it comes to collecting blueberries in the wild. Anyone who has ever seen the surgical scars following a misdiagnosed and abducted fox tapeworm – reminiscent of the bite marks of a tiger shark – might lose their appetite.
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It’s not that easy anymore anyway. Because while blueberry farmers whine regarding the competition from Morocco and Peru (the robustness of the goods traded can be seen from the long delivery routes), the wild blueberries are becoming increasingly rare. They love low-nitrogen soils, but these are becoming increasingly rare. Industrial agriculture, but also coal-fired power plants and other factors have changed the forest soils in many places, and the tendency to create mixed forests also has disadvantages from the blueberry perspective. Unlike a coniferous soil, the faster decaying foliage is another nitrogen producer. So she is not only threatened by her immigrant sister, but also by the rampant blackberry, which gets along well with nitrogen.
The consequence is bitter: the blueberry pancake becomes a rarity. This delicacy, with the berries that have burst from the heat and distribute their sweetness and color in the dough, should be part of the world heritage. And the ecological problems mentioned are bigger than this little plant. To quote the steadfast von Hirschhausen, “If we want to save the blue planet, we can start with the blueberry.”
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In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is required, since the providers of the embedded content as third-party providers require this consent [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (which can be revoked at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information regarding this. You can withdraw your consent at any time via the switch and via privacy at the bottom of the page.
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