I just came back from our annual Blackberry Festival here in Lenoir, North Carolina.  The festival is named for those fresh dark morsels of goodness that show up in July of each year in the Southeast.  Having my appetite whetted for berries, I decided to do a little research on the benefits of July’s sweet harvest and share it with you.

The common blackberry is also called “bramble raspberry”; genus rubus, family rosaceae.  The five petal bloom on most varieties resembles the full bloom of the rose, thus rosaceae.  It is estimated that blackberries have been part of the human diet for 2500 years, yet it is considered a weed and invasive plant in some parts of the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  Did you know that:

• the blossoms of the blackberries produce a dark fruity honey when beehives are kept close to their vines while in bloom
• in the United Kingdom, superstition has it that the berries should not be picked after September 15^th because the devil has claimed them
• blackberries growing near busy highways may contain high levels of toxins, so don’t eat them!
• in the Southern United States, when a cold snap comes in May or June when the blackberries are in blossom, it is referred to as a “blackberry winter”.

Enough of the lore.  How can these sweet berries of summer benefit our health?  While they don’t stomp out diabetes or any other disease, they do contain phytochemicals that may benefit our immune system.  Blackberries contain polyphenol antioxidants which can scavenge free radicals, boost immunity, inhibit growth of tumors and can act as an anti-inflammatory.  Here is the profile of a cup of fresh berries:

Serving:  1 cup

Calories:  75                            Potassium:       282 mg (milligrams)

Carbs:      18 grams                  Calcium:          46 mg

Fiber:      7.6 grams                 Phosphorus:       30 mg

Protein:    1 gram                     Magnesium:      28 mg

Vitamin A:  238iu (international units)

This one cup counts as 1 fruit serving or 1 carb choice on the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Exchange Lists for meal planning.

Blackberries, fresh or frozen, can easily be worked into healthy recipes.  Here are a few for you to try out.  Personally, I think the best way to eat them is fresh off the vine!

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