Blueberries

Blueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries, native to North America. Blueberry is a perennial, with leaves that are either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, 1-8 cm long and 0.5-3.5 cm broad. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink to red, and are sometimes tinged with green.

Blueberry is a false berry 5-16 mm in diameter with a flared crown at the end. They are pale greenish at first, then reddish purple, and finally bluish-purple when ripe. Blueberries are sweet when mature, with variable acidity. They are high in manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fiber.

Blueberries are sold fresh or processed as individually quick frozen (IQF) fruit, juice, puree, or dried . They can also be used in a variety of consumer goods such as jellies, jams, make into blueberry pies, muffins, snack food and add into cereal. Blueberry jam is made from blueberries, sugar, water, and fruit pectin. Premium blueberry jam, usually made from wild blueberries.

Many sold Blueberries are from the section Cyanococcus of the genus Vaccinium. Blueberries may be cultivated, or picked from semi-wild or wild bushes. In North America, the most cultivated species id V. corymbosum. Cyanococcus blueberries can be distinguished from the almost identical looking bilberries and huckleberries by comparing the flesh. Blueberries have white or greenish flesh, while the flesh of bilberries and huckleberries are colored purple throughout.