Yes, the berries actually are getting bigger this year

It’s not your imagination, berries this year at the grocery store have in fact been fatter, sweeter and more abundant. 

The big berry growers (notably Driscoll but also a giant Spanish company called Planas) have developed some new varieties of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. It’s very important to these companies, by the way, that you know that none of these varieties was developed through genetic modification (where a gene from another organism is introduced into the berry) but rather through old-fashioned cross-breeding. 

The new berries are larger and plumper and sweeter. Driscoll is also especially proud of its work on blackberries. When you go to the company’s website, you can find the tale of the journey of today’s blackberry: Not so long ago, the site tells us, blackberries were small, hard, seedy little fruits that you found on bushes on the side of the road.

Driscoll worked hard for years to make a yummy blackberry. They succeeded so well that blackberries are now a regular item on my shopping list and I’m thrilled when I see them offered at two for the price of one (which seems to happen fairly often).

There have also been advances in blueberries and raspberries; you’ve probably noticed that they’ve been much larger in the past year; and that the raspberries are a little sturdier, and less likely to melt into goo if you don’t eat them as soon as you get home from the store. 

Supposedly new types of strawberries are also on their way; I’d have to say that I haven’t been very inspired by the strawberries I’ve seen this winter, but the proof will be when the California season peaks in April. 

As an interesting side note, however, the industry website www.fruittoday.com reported in 2017 that fruit growers were reducing the number of acres they devote to strawberries and increasing the number of acres they use to grow the other three types of berries. It’s also interesting (I think) that almost 50 percent of all blueberries grown in the world (about 13,000 tons) are sent to Britain.

I like to recommend that we all mix up our nutrition sources so we get the broadest range of vitamins and minerals and fiber etc. I don’t like to say “eat this type of berry and not another because it has more vitamin C.”

So I am not going to give a comparison here of the nutrition benefits of the four different berries, at least not in this article. I’m going to focus here on blackberries, because they are a relatively new kind of berry for most of us. And really, in the end, each kind of berry is superior in some way to the other types so again, just eat a mix of them to get the maximum benefit.

Pretty much all of the berries offer you a lot of vitamin C, which is not only the vitamin that in theory helps you fight the common cold; it’s also an antioxidant, which means it goes around your body clearing out any cancer-causing cells that might be developing. 

One thing that stands out with blackberries is that they have a lot of seeds and their seeds are bigger than the ones you find in raspberries. The seeds offer a lot of fiber, and because blackberries are relatively low in sugar compared to other berries it means that they have a good glycemic index (your body can process the sugar better). 

The seeds, weirdly, are also a source of fat and protein because, logically, the seeds are like nuts, which also have fat and protein. So blackberries have more fat than blueberries because they have bigger seeds; but the amount of fat is still pretty negligible so don’t worry about it too much.

The sour sharpness that we traditionally associate with blackberries (even though the new varieties are sweeter) seems to have some protective qualities. There are a couple of kinds of acids found in blackberries that are supposed to kill bacteria in  your mouth, which should in theory make your breath smell sweeter. And blackberries have a lot of tanins, which are bitter and sour but which are very nutritious and flavorful (apples with a lot of tanins, for example, make the best cider).

Blackberries have a lot of vitamin K (100 grams of berries gives you 25 percent of your recommended daily allotment). Vitamin K is good for your blood and bones (sorry, that’s a gross oversimplification).

And blackberries have a lot of the anthocyanins that are thought to help relieve some of the symptoms of dementia.

Blackberries are great raw. They also are wonderful when smooshed together with some thyme and garlic and brown sugar or honey and pushed under the skin of chicken. Roast it at about 375 degrees.