The berries, blueberries

Blueberry fruits are round and slightly flattened in shape. Blueberries have small, mostly elliptic, short stalked leaves.

Blueberries are 'soft fruit', a name which underlies the impact that fruit texture plays in their marketability. Blueberries aren't actually blue, but deep purple, which is the color of anthocyanin, a pigment that is especially rich in blueberries. Plump, juicy berries with a deep purple color highlighted by a silvery sheen called ñbloomî.

Fresh blueberries are delightful and have a slightly sweet taste that is mixed with a little bit of acid from the berry. Some berries are tarter than others, while sweeter blueberries do exist.

Ripeness and maturity are the key factors that influence the taste of a fruit. Ripening processes play a key role in flavor development and can affect the chemical and sensory characteristics (acidity, sweetness) of fruits.

They are small but juicy and will release juice when bitten down. Wild blueberries are smaller than cultivated ones and often have a more floral taste.
The berries, blueberries

Fruit of boysenberries

The boysenberry’s glossy, large, dark, reddish-black or purple fruit is similar in appearance to the blackberry a fruit it is related to and often classified as.

It was named by Walter Knott, founder of Knott’s Berry Farm, after Rudolph Boysen who discovered it in California in 1923.

The boysenberry is made up of numerous drupelets, fleshy fruit in which the seed is encased in a single shell. It is a cool climate crop, it grows in full sun to partial shade and does best in a well-drained, moist, loamy soil rich in organic matter from pH 6-7.5.

Boysenberries are a slightly tart, juicy fruit that is rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, iron, fiber and anthocyanins that work as antioxidants.

Boysenberry juice helps to prevent scurvy, that dread nutritional deficiency disease that wreaks havoc upon the skin and nervous system. Boysenberry juice also makes a gentle laxative for older people, who are occasionally constipated and who require something moderate to promote an easy bowel movement.

Boysenberry may be eaten fresh, in fruit salads, with ice-cream, in drinks, milk shakes or use alone with creams, in trifles, and to top fruit tarts. It can be used in jams, preserves, pies, cheesecakes, muffins, cobblers, bars, pancakes and syrups, or even made into wine.
Fruit of boysenberries

Physical characteristics of blueberry fruits

The oak and pine forest of eastern and central North American are home to more than a dozen Vaccinium species commonly known as blubbery. Blueberry was a primary food plant for Native American.

The entire fruit is eaten. The pigment released from the blueberry’s skin may be the most valuable nutrient in the berry, as it contains potent antioxidants called anthocyanins. Blueberry fruits are round and slightly flattened in shape. Blueberries have small, mostly elliptic, short stalked leaves.

The fruit is a five-loculed, true berry resulting from the maturation of an inferior ovary. The pericarp is covered with a waxy bloom and is merged with other tissue containing chlorophyll. They have a crown like structure on the calyx end (bottom) of the fruit and a depressed ring on the top of the fruit where the stem was attached.

The skin is smooth and soft and ranges from light blue to dark blue, often with a grayish cast. Blueberries are small, usually around 1/2 inch in diameter.

The fruit of the highbush blueberry ripens from August to late September and is most variable in shape, size, color and flavor.

Among the most important characteristics being sought after the blueberry breeders are flavor, large size, light blue color (heavy coating of wax), a small scar where the pedicel detaches, easy fruit detachment for hand or machine harvest, firmness and a long storage life.

Most people prefer a sweet, crunchy fruit with a trace of acidity; however, high-acid fruit tend to store longer than low-acid ones. Other important fruit characteristics are uniform shape, size, and color, high aroma and the ability to retain texture in storage.
Physical characteristics of blueberry fruits

Snowberries

The snowberries (Symphoricarpos spp.), sometimes called Indian currant waxberry, wolf-berry and other vernacular names are represented by 10 to 15 variable species, all native to North America.

Four species are native to California. Some forms are valued as ornamentals because of their large waxy snow-white berries.

The snowberries closely resemble their relatives, the twinberries. Like the twinberries, they may have their own flowers borne in pairs. However, there is one easy way to distinguish them: twinberries always have red or black berries, while the snowberries have only white berries.

Snowberry is a low deciduous shrub that reaches about 3-6 ft in height and produces waxy white berries late summer and fall. These berries usually remain in the shrub until the leaves drop in the winter.

The nutritive value of snowberries seems to compare favorably with those of many equally palatable deciduous shrubs. The snowberries have considerable value for wildlife for they produce high-quality forage and good cover for game birds and small animals.
Snowberries

Black raspberry

Although there are many black-fruited raspberry species, the black raspberries of commerce, also known as ‘black caps’ are native to North America.

The western North American black raspberry, Rubus leucodermis, occurs in British Columbia, through Washington, Oregon and into California.

The first black raspberry cultivars were selected directly from the wild in eastern North America in the 1830s. The breeding of black raspberries was slow to develop, with the first active breeding work being initiated in the late 1800s at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva.

Black raspberries are diploid. They belong to the same subgenus (Idaeobatus) as red raspberries and can cross with species in this subgenus.

More than 99% of the total production of black raspberry is processed, while about 1% of fruits are consumed fresh. Black raspberry juice also uses as a natural colorant/dye. Pigments from black raspberries were used for many years as the dye for the stamp used to certify meat by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Black raspberry have been investigated extensively for their ability to prevent cancer in rodents and potentially, in humans.

Black raspberry exhibit high antioxidant activity due, in part to their high levels of anthocyanins, ellagitannins and other phenols.
Black raspberry

Post harvest of blueberry

Bushes are picked over several times by hand for fresh sales and mostly machine harvested for processed fruits.

Hand harvested blueberries are generally firmer compared to machine-harvested fruits.

Mechanical harvesters are two types: over the row or hand held vibrator and catch frame harvesters. Both results in loss of berries on the ground and berry quality is generally inferior to the of hand harvested fruits.

The ripe berries are harvested and ideally they can be frozen to preserve the nutrients as soon as they are picked.

The berries are very fragile and fairly perishable ,do not store very well for a long period. Blueberries are having a shelf life of only 2 weeks stored at 32 °F and 90 to 95 percent humidity.

Storage temperature also influences the rate of moisture loss, particularly when fruit is handled under very low humidity levels.

Chemical composition of the blueberry as well as color change and texture, is affected by storage time and temperature and species.
Post harvest of blueberry

Problems with Berries: Soft and Mushy

Problems with Berries: Soft and Mushy
It caused by blueberry maggot fly. This insect, closely related to the apple maggot fly. Deposits eggs just under the skin of the fruit from late June to August.

Eggs hatch into fruit-devouring maggots that later drop to the soil and pupate over the winter.

To reduce the number of maggots that pupate in the soil though the next winter, blueberry need to be harvested frequently and destroy any infected berries can be found.

Another control is to trap adult flies on sticky red spheres like the ones used to trap apple maggot flies.

Hang 1 trap per highbush plant or 1 per several lowbush plants before the first berries turn blue.
Problems with Berries: Soft and Mushy

Blueberry

The genus Vaccinium L. includes approximately 400 species, which are concentrated in the montane tropics but extend to all continents except Australia.

It is a high value crop which can thrive on acidic, imperfectly drained sandy soils, once conspired worthless for agriculture crop production.

Blueberry fruits are round and slightly flattened in shape. Blueberries have small, mostly elliptic, short stalked leaves.

They have a crown like structure on the calyx end (bottom) of the fruit and a depressed ring on the top of the fruit where the stem was attached.

The skin is smooth and soft and ranges from light blue to dark blue, often with a grayish cast. Blueberries are small, usually around 1/2 inch in diameter.

Blueberry has been domesticated most recently, having been accomplished entirely within the 20th century.

Wild lowbush blueberry plants were probably the first blueberries to be cultivated with native North Americans burning the heaths to increase.
Blueberry