Page 36 - Sept 2017 Food Business

34 FRUITS

t is blue, bursting with goodness and might
just be the future of Polish farming. The once BLUEBERRIES
Ihumble blueberry is quickly becoming a cash
crop as farmers gear up to meet soaring
demand for the so-called 'superfood'. ARE RICH IN
Six years ago a clutch of almost breathlessly
enthusiastic health studies revealed that the fruit
was packed with so much goodness and ANTIOXIDANTS
vitamins that blueberries achieved almost
mythic status among foodies and nutritionists.
Once seen as little more than a perfunctory pie the equal amount of blueberries contains five
filling, the berry has become Europe's most times the antioxidants of pea, carrots, apples,
fashionable fruit. marrow, or broccoli.
Jerzy Wilczewski set up his own specialist The group of substances that make
horticultural farm after his graduation from blueberries a valuable addition to our diet are
Warsaw Agricultural University in 1979. phytyoestrogens (i.e. plant hormones). Among
Among 40 kinds of fruit and vegetables, the plants of the heather family, cranberries are
blueberries came first in terms of the content of the richest in phytochemical content (five times
antioxidants, i.e. substances that neutralise free more than blueberries and bilberries), followed
radicals. The second spot was taken by grape by cowberries (three times).
juice, whose capacity was 2/3 that of
antioxidant potential found for blueberries.
They were followed by strawberries, kale, and
spinach. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that

FOOD BUSINESS GULF & MIDDLE EAST SEPTEMBER 2017