Types Of Berries

Trying to make some delicious and exceptional recipes? How about using different types of berries to come up with something unique and distinguished? Apart from the common nutritious and succulent fruits, like apples, bananas, kiwis, and oranges, there are berries that go into making some of the most scrumptious and gorgeous foods. If strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are the only berries that you can imagine of, you would be surprised to know that these aren’t true berries. They are botanically classified as ‘false berries’. In fact, most people do not even know what a berry actually is. It is a fleshy fruit that is produced from a single ovary. As such, grapes are one of true berries. While most berries are edible, some are poisonous ranging from mildly toxic to extremely fatal. Read on to know some kinds of berries.

 

 

Small pebble-like green berries, gooseberries have a silvery cast and a hint of sour-tart. They are best used for manufacturing jams, pies, and other highly sweetened dished due to their intense flavor and taste. Nonetheless, they are also used for making sauces that are then blended with duck dishes. They are best cultivated in cooler climates and are in season from July to September.

 

Grapes are small non-climacteric fruits that grow in clusters of 6 to 300 on perennial and deciduous woody vines. Found in colors of crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, and pink, grapes are either eaten raw or used in the making of jams, juices, vinegar, wine, grape seed extract, raisins, and grape seed oil.

 

Considered to be one of the false berries, blueberry is dark-blue or purple in color with tart sweetness. Blueberries have wild as well as cultivated variants. While the wild blueberries are small in size and have a concentrated flavor, cultivated ones are bigger and juicier. They are used in the making of pies, fruit salads, glazes, jams, ice creams, tarts, juices, and so on. They are even useful for treating various diseases, such as stomach ailments, heart degeneration, and heart diseases. They are available from June through August.

 

Small and tightly packed, raspberries are false berries found in red, yellow, purple, and black colors. They are high in vitamin C and K, manganese, and magnesium, and hence, used for suppressing cancer cell growth and killing cancer cells. Amongst the cancers, the most successful ones include oral, esophageal, liver, bladder, and colon cancer. These go into the making of jams, jellies, pies, ice creams, juices, smoothies, sorbets, and yogurts. You can look for raspberries from June to August.

 

One of the most popular fruits eaten across the globe, strawberries go into the preparation of numerous culinary dishes, like jams, ice creams, coulis, tarts, pies, milk shakes, shortcakes, sorbets, sauces, yogurts, salads, dressings, and garnishing. Most strawberry species are available throughout the year, peaking from April through July.

 

Rose hip is a large bottle-shaped pomaceous fruit cultivated from the rose plant. Though it is generally red to orange in color, you can find rose hips in colors of dark purple to black as well. Rich in vitamin A, B, and C, essential fatty acids, and antioxidant flavonoids, rose hips are used for treating colds and influenza. Considering culinary dishes, rose hips go into the preparation of herbal teas, jams, jellies, syrups, soups, beverages, pies, breads, wine, and marmalades. They are in season from late summer through autumn.

 

Small, round black berries, acai berries are relatively new found treasure known to the Amazon rainforests only at one time. Due to their antioxidant properties, acai berries are known to lower levels of cholesterol, slow the ageing process, improve heart health, and prevent diseases related to cellular oxidative damage. One acai berry is known to contain ten times the amount of antioxidant vitamins as grapes and two times the amount contained in blueberries. Acai berries are usually used in juices, smoothies, sodas, and other beverages.