Blueberries: The Humble Superfood
The pursuit of greater health and superior nutrition has become increasingly popular for consumers today. Once hard to find ingredients like goji berries, camu camu, acai, and maca are in high demand and shoppers are willing to pay a lot to get the health benefits of these superfoods.
If you have joined the crusade for greater health, chances are that you spend a lot of your time scouring the internet to find tasty recipes using items like wheatgrass and spirulina. If you're being honest, you have to admit that finding ways to include some of these items in your diet isn't easy.
Enter the humble blueberry! In your eagerness to include superfoods in your diet, you may not realize that every time you’re at the grocery store, you likely pass right by one of the most powerful health foods you can eat. At only about 80 calories per cup, blueberries contain high levels of Vitamins C, K, and Manganese. They also have some of the highest levels of antioxidants out of all the fruits or vegetables on the market. It's also believed that this tiny berry has the ability to protect your DNA and support healthy cholesterol levels.
Blueberries are so nutritious, so inexpensive, and so versatile that it's worth taking a few minutes to learn a bit more about how you can integrate them into your diet.
Breakfast Ideas
You don't have to do much with a blueberry to make it taste great! That's why some of the most popular ways to include them in your day are in their natural state. Raw or frozen blueberries can be added to your cereal, mixed into yogurt, and tossed by the handful into your favorite waffle or pancake mix. Starting your day with a healthy smoothie that includes blueberries and a tablespoon or two of our Organic Heirloom Blueberry Powder, is the real breakfast of champions!
Dessert and Beverage Ideas
Next to breakfast, desserts are the most delicious way to eat some of these amazing berries. Blueberries are wonderful in just about any baked good. Take your go-to cobbler or crumble recipe and replace the fruit with blueberries. Add a little coconut milk ice cream and eat it while it's hot, and you've got a delicious comfort food that packs a nutritional punch! Blueberry muffins and blueberry jam (known at Bow Hill as confiture) are sweet treats that can be used as desserts or for breakfast. You've had pineapple upside-down cake, yes? Try it with blueberries!
You drink orange juice, apple juice, and even pomegranate juice, but have you tried blueberry juice? It's a simple and delicious way to get all the powerful health benefits of this tiny blue gem. Or, the next time you're having a glass of sparkling water try adding some crushed blueberries to the bottom of your glass. And if you want to try something a bit more adult, be adventurous and try making a blueberry basil martini!
Savory Dishes
Most people don't think of adding fruit to savory dishes, but the combination can be magical. Salad dressings that pair blueberries with balsamic vinegar can bring a boring salad to life. Blueberries make for wonderful sauces that you can serve over steak or pork. Like many fruits, blueberries also go well with a variety of cheeses, opening up the possibility of using them on pizzas and bruschetta. Do you want a dinner packed with a ton of nutrition? Try making this recipe for salmon with pickled blueberries. There's nothing like a tasty meal that combines two superfoods!
Finding delicious and innovative ways to include a variety of superfoods into your diet is a great way to improve your health. But there's no need to constantly be searching for complicated recipes or to sacrifice taste for nutrition. Blueberries are easy to find, won't cost you a fortune, and are simple to incorporate into the recipes you already have. The combination of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants contained in these little berries makes them an obvious choice to include in a healthy diet.