Composition and calorie content of blueberries. Useful properties of berries and shrub leaves. Possible harm from use and contraindications. How to choose quality fruits? The use of black berries in cooking.
Blueberry is a low-growing shrub belonging to the Heather family and its edible fruit. Other names - common or myrtle-leaved blueberry, blueberry, blueberry, blackberry, blueberry and blueberry - are associated with the ability of berries to color the hands, tongue, water in a blue-black color. There is no reliable data on the place of origin of this plant, but most of it grows in Russia in the northern part, mainly in the wild, in Northern Europe and North America. There are many varieties of blueberries nowadays. Harvesting occurs in July and August. The fruits of plants growing in ecologically clean areas have a high value for health, therefore they are considered an important food product and a means of traditional and folk medicine. Shrub leaves are also helpful. The following is a detailed description of the product, its composition, useful properties, as well as options for use in cooking.
Composition and calorie content of blueberries
In the photo, blueberries
Nature has endowed blueberries with a large list of nutrients. In addition to vitamins, minerals, the composition includes tannins, pectins, flavonoids, antioxidants. The most useful are those fruits that are collected from young shrubs.
The calorie content of blueberries is 44 kcal per 100 g, of which:
- Proteins - 1, 1 g;
- Fat - 0.6 g;
- Carbohydrates - 7.6 g;
- Organic acids - 1, 2 g;
- Dietary fiber - 3, 1 g;
- Water - 86 g;
- Ash - 0.4 g.
Organic acids are represented by citric, succinic, malic, cinchona, lactic, benzoic, oxalic acids.
Vitamins per 100 g:
- Beta Carotene - 0.032 mg;
- Vitamin B1 - 0.01 mg;
- Vitamin B2 - 0.02 mg;
- Vitamin B4 - 6 mg;
- Vitamin B5 - 0, 124 g;
- Vitamin B6 - 0.052 mg;
- Vitamin B9 - 6 mcg;
- Vitamin C - 10 mg;
- Vitamin E - 1.4 mg;
- Vitamin H - 2, 3 mmkg;
- Vitamin K - 19.3 mcg;
- Vitamin PP - 0.4 mg.
Macronutrients per 100 g:
- Potassium - 51 mg;
- Calcium - 16 mg;
- Silicon - 22 mg;
- Magnesium - 6 mg;
- Sodium - 6 mg;
- Sulfur - 7.4 mg;
- Phosphorus - 13 mg;
- Chlorine - 7, 8 mg.
Microelements per 100 g:
- Aluminum - 3, 9 mcg;
- Boron - 26.4 mcg;
- Vanadium - 16.8 mcg;
- Iron - 0.7 mg;
- Iodine - 10, 9 mcg;
- Cobalt - 0.9 mcg;
- Lithium - 6 mcg;
- Manganese - 0.336 mg;
- Copper - 57 mcg;
- Molybdenum - 2.4 mcg;
- Nickel - 0.4 mcg;
- Rubidium - 8, 3 mcg;
- Selenium - 0.1 mcg;
- Strontium - 3.4 mcg;
- Fluorine - 73.9 mcg;
- Chromium - 1.5 mcg;
- Zinc - 0.16 mg;
- Zirconium - 2.6 mcg.
Digestible carbohydrates per 100 g:
- Starch and dextrins - 0.03 g;
- Sugar - 7.6 g;
Polyunsaturated fatty acids per 100 g:
- Omega-3 - 0.058 g;
- Omega-6 - 0, 088 g.
Blueberries also contain 0.028 g of saturated fatty acids.
Useful properties of blueberries
A large amount of vitamins and minerals are contained in moderate amounts in these berries, but in combination with a sufficient amount of silicon, manganese, vitamin K, as well as dietary fiber, the product is able to have a healing effect on the entire body. Along with the fruits of blueberries, its young leaves are also used for medicinal and prophylactic purposes. Let's take a closer look at the benefits of blueberries.
Useful properties of blueberries
The berries are very pleasant to the taste, have a low calorie content and, at the same time, are well absorbed, much faster than drugs and dietary supplements. Thanks to this, the beneficial properties of blueberries are more pronounced. They are best consumed fresh, but dried or frozen food can also be used as food.
The healing properties of blueberries are aimed at treating the following organs and systems:
- The cardiovascular system … Oxycoumarin can thin the blood and prevent blood clots, so eating blue-black berries is an important preventive measure against heart attack. Blood circulation improves.
- Metabolism … Fresh product actively optimizes blood plasma sugar levels, preventing the development of diabetes mellitus. Replenishes the deficiency of vitamins, important minerals. It speeds up metabolism and helps to reduce body weight.
- The immune system … Due to their high content of antioxidants that neutralize the effects of free radicals, blueberries increase protection against the formation of cancer cells. Bilberry vitamins help the immune system to better cope with disease-causing microbes. The product has an antibacterial function. Promotes the rapid elimination of cough and other manifestations of colds.
- Gastrointestinal tract … Fresh fruits increase the acidity of gastric juice, improve digestion. Due to the astringent effect of dried berries, they eliminate loose stools with non-infectious diarrhea. There is an active cleansing of the intestines from accumulated feces, toxins, toxins, metal salts, the microflora improves, and putrefactive processes are eliminated.
- Musculoskeletal system … The anti-inflammatory effect of the berries allows you to relieve a number of symptoms in rheumatism, osteochondrosis and accelerate the onset of remission.
- Organs of vision … Berries are very often used for the production of medicines for the visual organs. For the eyes, blueberries have many beneficial properties. After taking it, due to the normalization of blood supply and the delivery of a sufficient amount of nutrients and oxygen, visual acuity increases, including at night, the field of vision expands, eye fatigue is removed, and the retina is renewed faster.
- Skin … Sometimes the berries are applied externally. Fresh blueberry juice is useful for skin rashes, eczema, scaly lichen, purulent wounds, burns and ulcers. The product allows you to moisturize the epidermis well, eliminate redness and swelling of soft tissues caused by irritation or inflammation.
- Genitourinary system … The pulp of berries and blueberry extract help to optimize the menstrual cycle. In the presence of kidney and bladder diseases, the therapeutic effect of the product is also manifested.
Benefits of blueberry leaves
The leaves of the bush are not eaten, they are only sometimes added when brewing tea. At the same time, they are actively used for the preparation of various folk remedies. They are harvested during the flowering shrub. The content of triterpenic acids, tannins, flavonoids, vitamins, minerals, arbutin glycoside, essential oil and other beneficial substances in the green part of the plant provides a wide range of beneficial effects.
The beneficial properties of blueberry leaves are as follows:
- Improving immune status … The broth vitaminizes and protects the body at the cellular level, strengthening cells and increasing their resistance to viruses and bacteria. It also allows you to speed up your recovery from colds.
- Treatment of skin diseases … To eliminate various skin lesions, for example, weeping eczema, burns, various wounds, an infusion is prepared in water, with which the affected areas are washed. The tool exhibits antiseptic activity, relieves inflammation and eliminates itching.
- Boost your metabolism … Both berries and green leaves are used to stimulate metabolic processes. Fresh raw materials are simply added to green tea and used as part of fasting diets. The drink actively cleanses the intestines, suppresses appetite. It removes toxins that prevent the body from functioning normally, and excess fluid, eliminating swelling of soft tissues. It also increases the effectiveness of physical activity aimed at reducing weight and increasing muscles.
- Prevention of many diseases … The natural formula of nutrients contained in green leaves protects blood vessels from the formation of blood clots, and therefore helps prevent heart attack. Helps to reduce the amount of glucose in the blood, which prevents the development of diabetes mellitus and the appearance of the consequences of this disease. Accelerates the elimination of radioactive substances from the body, therefore, reduces the risk of developing cancer and other dangerous diseases. And also protects the musculoskeletal system from salt deposition, is a preventive measure of atherosclerosis.
- Normalization of the nervous system … Tea made from dried or fresh leaves can quickly relieve headaches. stimulates cerebral circulation and supplies oxygen to brain cells. This drink tones up well and restores attentiveness.
Contraindications and harm of blueberries
Along with the healing properties, blueberries have a number of restrictions on their use. They are not numerous, but in order to avoid exacerbation of some diseases, you should refuse to use this product in certain situations.
Contraindications for blueberries include the presence of allergies to the product, urolithiasis, chronic constipation, hyperacidity, dysfunction of the pancreas, pathology of the duodenum and clotting disorders. Fruits are not desirable for pregnant women and during lactation, however, when consumed in moderation, they can also be of great benefit.
Berries are certainly very tasty and healthy, but blueberries can also be harmful if consumed in large quantities. First of all, the digestive system suffers, because the product provokes indigestion and can cause both loose stools and constipation. There is also a risk of bleeding.
It is advisable not to use this type of berries with raspberries and strawberries, strawberries and cloudberries.
How to choose the right blueberry?
It is quite simple to choose berries by their appearance. Numerous photos of blueberries show that the fruits are black or bluish-black in color. The shape is spherical. The size in diameter varies from 0.5 to 1.5 cm. The surface should be free of dents and any damage, moisture or mold. The berries are dense to the touch. Inside there are the smallest seeds in the amount of 20-40 pieces. The smell is not felt.
For some people living in the northern regions, blueberries are an important source of income. They collect berries and sell them in spontaneous markets. In this case, the product very rarely passes quality control and may be hazardous to health. This is due to the fact that fruits can actively accumulate radioactive cesium and cause serious harm to the body. And outwardly infected and healthy blueberries are no different. Therefore, it is better to buy such a product in places where a mandatory veterinary and sanitary examination is carried out.
When there is an opportunity to pick berries yourself, then it is worth knowing one feature. Low-growing shrubs bear fruit within 30-35 years, starting at 4 or 5 years of age. Moreover, the older the plant, the more berries it contains, but the less their nutritional value. You can determine the approximate age of a shrub visually: young ones have thin green twigs, while there are not very many branches, and plants over 20 years old are spreading and with a large number of side branches. To keep delicate and fragile fruits whole, it is necessary to collect them in small containers - buckets, wicker baskets, and exclude unnecessary pouring from one container to another.
It is better to keep fresh berries in the refrigerator, placing them in an open container and avoiding an increase in humidity in order to exclude the appearance of mold. The storage period is 5-6 days. They can also be dried and frozen to extend their shelf life and preserve the maximum amount of useful ingredients.
Blueberry food and drink recipes
Blueberry fruits have a delicate sweet and sour taste and when eaten fresh they refresh well and quench thirst. Unprocessed berries can be added to fruit salads, ice cream, baked goods, dairy products and used to decorate a variety of desserts. On the basis of this product, jam, jam, jelly, marmalade and drinks are prepared, for example, compotes, teas, juices, smoothies. You can also use the fruits for cooking meat dishes, vegetable salads, pasta and rice dishes. Next, let's look at a few popular blueberry recipes.
Blueberry baked goods
Blueberry berries are an excellent filling for dumplings, pies and pies. Most of the recipes are in Russian, French and English cuisine. If you add the product to muffins, muffins, casseroles in the form of mashed potatoes, then it will easily color the dough, making the appearance of the dish brighter.
Blueberry Baking Recipes:
- Cottage cheese casserole with blueberries … Ingredients: cottage cheese (300 g), sour cream 15% (100 g), semolina (70 g), blueberries (100 g), sugar (100 g), eggs (1 pc.). To make the casserole more tender, grind the cottage cheese through a fine metal sieve or beat thoroughly in a blender. Then add sugar, semolina, egg yolks and sour cream there and mix well. We leave for a few minutes so that the sugar dissolves and the semolina swells a little. Beat the whites separately until a dense foam is obtained - this will make the dessert more airy and tender. We wash the black berries and turn them into puree using a blender. If you grind it in a meat grinder, then after that you will need to grind it through a sieve to get a homogeneous mass. Put the mashed potatoes in the curd mixture, knead. Then carefully add the proteins to the dough using a spoon. We fill the silicone mold with curd-blueberry mass and put it in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. We bake until tender. The use of blueberries in this recipe allows not only to make the taste brighter, and the dish itself is many times healthier, but also to give the casserole an interesting bluish-purple hue.
- Blueberry Yoghurt Pie … Ingredients: blueberries (200 g), Greek yogurt (250 g), egg (2 pcs.), Corn starch (1 tablespoon), sugar (50 g), butter (80 g), icing sugar (80 g)), flour (160 g). Warm the butter to room temperature and beat in with powdered sugar. Pour in a pinch of salt, sifted flour and whipped yolk. Knead the dough, collect it in a ball and send it to the refrigerator for half an hour. Roll out the dough, put it on the bottom of the mold and cool it again for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Put a small load on the dough and bake for 15 minutes, then remove it and bake for another 10 minutes. Separately, using a whisk, beat the egg, yogurt, sugar and starch. Sprinkle the baked dough with starch, distribute the berries on top and fill with the yogurt mixture. We bake for another half hour. Cool completely and cut into portions.
- Cottage cheese muffins with blueberries … Ingredients: flour (180 g), eggs (1 pc.), Sugar (100 g), cottage cheese (200 g), butter (100 g), vanilla sugar (10 g), baking powder (2 tsp), almond flour (50 g), blueberries (200 g), almond petals (3 tablespoons), lemon (1 pc.), powdered sugar (2 tablespoons), salt (3 g). Warm the butter, cut into small cubes, to room temperature. Beat the egg with sugar, vanilla and salt. Add cottage cheese, lemon zest, butter. Using a mixer, beat the mass. Then add wheat and almond flour in portions, baking powder. Mix clean and dry blueberries into the dough with a spoon. Grease the prepared silicone muffin molds with oil and fill 2/3 of the dough. Sprinkle almond petals on top at once, pressing them a little. We bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 45 minutes. Sprinkle the finished baked goods with powder and serve as a dessert.
- Blueberry breakfast in a mug … Ingredients: Oatmeal (80 g), blueberries (60 g), butter (40 g), sugar (2 tablespoons), cocoa (2 tablespoons), baking powder (1/2 tsp), vanilla (2 g), milk (6 tbsp. l.), eggs (2 pcs.). Melt the butter in the microwave. Grind the oatmeal using a blender. Then we combine them with the rest of the ingredients, knead the dough and put them in circles for about two-thirds of the volume. We bake at 600 W for 4-5 minutes. Readiness can be checked periodically. If you do not add sugar to the dough, then on top of such a quick baking can be decorated with blueberry jam or berry sauce.
- Chicken Blueberry Pie … Ingredients: flour (1.1 kg), cream 20% (250 ml), eggs (5 pcs.), Dry yeast (20 g), butter (50 g), sugar (50 g), salt (1 tsp.) l.), milk (1 tbsp.), blueberries (150 g), chicken fillet (500 g), apricot jam (150 g), black and allspice peas (3 pcs.), thyme (3 g). Heat the water slightly to dilute the yeast with a little sugar. We leave for 15 minutes. Mix the cream with butter and heat a little so that the mixture becomes homogeneous, then cool. Combine the sifted flour with 50 g of sugar, 3 eggs, salt and yeast mixture. We knead the tough dough until it stops sticking to our hands and leave it for a couple of hours until it rises. We knead once and after half an hour, when it increases in size again, it can be used. During this time, we prepare pancakes: knead the dough from milk, 1 egg and 100 g of flour with the addition of a small amount of salt and sugar and make 10-12 pancakes. Cut the chicken fillet into small cubes and fry until tender. Grind the peppercorns in a mortar and sprinkle with the thyme on the chicken. Add jam here and fry again. Next, roll out the dough in the shape of a circle, spread it on a 22-centimeter mold, put half the berries on top, cover them with 5-6 pancakes, spread the remaining blueberries, cover again with 5-6 pancakes. Now distribute the chicken evenly and cover with dough. Lubricate the surface with a beaten egg. Bake chicken blueberry pie for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
Blueberry drinks
By eating fresh berries in their pure form, we get a lot of vitamins, macro- and microelements. But sometimes you want to diversify the menu by combining the most healthy products. Due to the fact that blueberry goes well with fruits, other berries and dairy products, many drink recipes have appeared with its participation.
Blueberry cocktail recipes:
- Smoothie "Purple Delight" … Ingredients: blueberries (100 g), strawberries (3 pcs.), Lemon juice (1 tsp), honey (1 tablespoon), milk (100 ml), almonds (10 g), banana (1 PCS.). Cut the strawberries into two halves, and cut the bananas into cubes. Together with blueberries, we send them to a blender and make fruit and berry puree. Grind the almonds and mix with milk, honey and lemon juice. Combine all ingredients and beat for 1, 5-2 minutes. The result is a vibrant purple thick cocktail.
- Lemonade … Ingredients: water (2 tablespoons), lemon juice (60 ml), lemon (1 piece), blueberries (2 tablespoons), brown sugar (60 g), cardamom (3 g). First, grind sugar and cardamom in a mortar. We wash the blueberries well. We send the berries together with the sugar mixture, water and lemon juice to a blender. Whisk and pour into a jug. Cut the lemon into thin slices and send it to the jug along with the ice. We serve the resulting cocktail to the table.
- Berry mojito with blueberries … Ingredients: blueberries (100 g), blackberries (200 g), mint (10 sprigs), brown sugar (2 tablespoons), lime (1 pc.), Sparkling mineral water (600 ml), ice (15 cubes)). We leave a few berries and lime slices for decoration. Grind the remaining blackberries and blueberries in mashed potatoes with a blender, and then grind through a fine sieve. Add sugar to the mass, mix. Put 3 tbsp in the prepared glasses. l. berry puree, squeeze out a little lime juice, put a few mint leaves here, rubbed with your fingers. Next, lay out the ice and fill it with mineral water. Decorate the top with lime wedges and berries. We serve to the table.
- Berry smoothie with sour milk … Ingredients: milk (400 ml), raspberries (80 g), frozen blueberries (50 g), sugar (2 tablespoons), pumpkin seed meal (1 tablespoon). Put fresh milk beforehand, put a crust of brown bread, leave it at room temperature for 8 hours and then put it in the refrigerator. You can also use a special sourdough starter to acidify milk. Put all the ingredients in the chopper bowl and beat very thoroughly. The smoothie should be smooth. When serving in glasses, add a few berries.
- Apricot smoothie … Ingredients: fermented baked milk (200 ml), fresh pitted apricots (300 g), buckwheat honey (2 tsp), oatmeal (4 tbsp.l.), strawberries (20 g), blueberries (80 g). We send the berries to the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Cut the apricots into small cubes, mix in a blender bowl with honey, oatmeal and half of the blueberry fruit. Then add fermented baked milk and beat for 2 minutes. Pour into bowls and decorate with the remaining berries on top. The apricot blueberry smoothie is ready!
Watch a video about the properties of blueberries:
It is not always easy to buy fresh blueberries in many parts of our country. But if desired, these berries can be found in almost any large supermarket in the frozen food section. Currently, varieties have been developed for growing shrubs on the windowsill. But this process has its own nuances, which, if desired, will not be difficult to understand.
