A few months ago (given what I later learned about this food's growing season, it was presumably in April or May), I saw something new in the berry section at my local Shop-Rite--blueberries which weren't, in fact, blue. These "Color Rush" berries were instead "blue"berries that were green, and purplish. Needless to say, I had to give them a try. The company that behind this was Naturipe.
I've reported on a Naturipe product before--another type of blueberry, this one grown in Peru, way back on January 14, 2023. In that post I covered the history of the Naturipe company. To avoid repetition, if you're curious about the founders of Naturipe and such, please consult that earlier post. I will mention that the Color Rush blueberry variant was created by Naturipe, and they're grown in Florida. The berries can be yellow, pink, green, or fuchsia. Many consumers claim that their texture is especially crisp and snappy. And that their flavor is extra sweet.
As for blueberries, they are native to North America. Although they've been successfully introduced to many other places, such as parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. (Maybe Africa too? I'm not sure.) The blueberry plant is known for being tolerant of cold temperatures. Also, some of them put out rhizomes, which are underground stems. Which then often grow to the surface and bloom themselves. Meaning a cluster of blueberry plants may be basically one plant with many parts. I'm surprised that a sci-fi/horror story hasn't been written about a huge blueberry plant cluster that becomes super intelligent and aggressive--a single organism with a "hive mind" bent on world domination. Returning to reality, Hammonton, New Jersey is known as the Blueberry Capital of the World.
Naturipe Color Rush premium blueberries. These blueberries were the typical size and shape as regular blueberries. The color was obviously different, as they were green, or purplish, or a bit of both. I didn't notice a shaper or crisper texture, as I'd read I would--they just seemed like a normal blueberry texture. Also, I didn't find them sweeter than regular blueberries. At all--they were significantly worse, being very bland, almost tasteless. I found these to be extremely disappointing--the different colors were kind of cool, but the flavor was very dull. I would strongly recommend against buying these.
I did just learn something about blueberries which I found amusing. Mainly, despite the name, the berries aren't actually blue. They contain a pigment called anthocyanin that makes them dark red. However, tiny structures (nanostructures) in the waxy outer layer reflect blue and ultraviolet light, making them appear blue to our eyes. This is rather amazing to me. What's next--are the citrus fruits called oranges not really an orange color?! My whole world doesn't make sense anymore, all because of a tiny little berry.
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