In May, a blueberry variety bred in Australia was awarded an overall score of 91.8% and bestowed -by the International Taste Institute - with a three-star Superior Taste Award. It is a class reserved only for the most exceptional competitors. The cultivar, known as Eureka, was produced by Ridley Bell of Mountain Blue Orchards near Lismore in northern New South Wales.
Today, blueberries are grown across the globe. In Australia, blueberry production tripled in the five years to 2021, and the fruit is grown almost year-round. Why? Because the humble blueberry has become a superfood: a little blue pill that would cure all manner of ills.
Blueberries are now grown in every Australian state. Production spans all seasons, from the sunny winters of far north Queensland to the cool summers of north-west Tasmania. It’s a strategy geared towards producing a steady year-round supply: news sure to please the blueberry diehards paying $10.99 a punnet in the off-season.
And as a growing global middle class develops a taste for blueberries, Australian growers are keen to satisfy it. Mountain Blue has farms in central India; Costa has farms in China and Morocco and is eyeing India, Namibia, Laos and New Zealand. All this, and Australia is still just a minnow in the global blueberry trade. Global production more than doubled between 2010 and 2019 to almost 1m tonnes, and blueberries are now produced on every continent except Antarctica.
Source: theguardian.com