BerryBomb - start of a second season

 

 

You are warmly welcome to the second season of #BerryBomb (#Marjapommi) blog on berries!

We are finally starting the second season of Marjapommi, BerryBomb. The theme of this season is to highlight the good in berries, in English. You are very welcome to read and listen our berry stories – with passion and science!

Just a short introduction of us. We are two Berry Scientist, who want to promote berries with passion and science. Sari has made her PhD thesis about flavonols and phenolic acids in berries and berry products. Anne´s PhD thesis was about lingonberries and cardiovascular diseases. You can listen more about our “berryfull” history from the first episode of Berry Bomb podcast.

Berries are important source of essential nutrients, like vitamins and minerals. In addition, berries are rich in polyphenols, secondary metabolites of plants. Growth conditions here in the North challenges berries to form lot of different types of polyphenols. One of the most important factors is the lightness of Finnish summer.

Each berry species have unique polyphenolic profile. Polyphenols possess bioactivity, like radical scavenging (antioxidation), effects in inflammatory pathways (anti-inflammation) and lipid metabolism. Certain berries, especially the seeds in seabuckthorn and blackcurrant, are rich in important unsaturated fats. Usually berries have moderate amounts of vitamins, but for example seabuckthorn is extremely rich in C-vitamin. So, to have the most of the health effects of the berries, it is important to eat different types of berries. You can eat berries as much as you like, but the “golden rule” is to have two deciliters per day.

Berries can be used in numerous different ways. Put berries on top of the porridge, yoghurt, mix in smoothies or drop in a salad. You can also use them as a spice in different types of foods or you can bake delicious pies or confectioneries filled with berries. What is you favorite recipe?

During this BerryBomb Season 2, we´ll highligh the health effects of the most common berries, bilberries, lingonberries, seabuckthorns and garden berries. We also give tips to have your daily berries in the middle of winter time.

 

Listen our pod here:

 

Soundcloud - BerryBomb

Spotify - BerryBomb

 

 

With Berry Greetings,

 

Anne and Sari