Mexico, after all, is one of world’s top producers They taste great, are good for you and lend themselves to a wide variety of recipes
One doesn’t usually think of blueberries as a Mexican fruit. But in recent years Mexico has become one of the world’s foremost blueberry producers, rising steadily through the ranks and sitting comfortably in the top five.
The states of Jalisco, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Puebla, Baja California and Colima grow the most, with the majority slated for export. (Although we still get lots here during harvest time — like now.)
Blueberries — called mora azul, or technically arandano azul — are quite the trendy crop nowadays, and there’s a big profit to be made from them. Mexico and Chile (another big grower) are unique in that their climates allow for two and sometimes three crops a year.
The majority of Mexican blueberries are grown under giant poly-covers to protect the plants from too much sun and allow for careful attention to soil pH, watering and pest control.
Canadian readers may know that lowbush, or “wild” blueberries, are their country’s biggest fruit crop and that they lead the world in their production. Indeed, Oxford, Nova Scotia, is known as the Wild Blueberry Capital of Canada, and residents in some regions of Quebec are known as bleuets, or blueberries. These are a different variety than the “highbush blueberries” grown in the U.S. and Mexico.
Mexico is among the top five producers.
Wherever they come from, though, we can all agree that blueberries taste great, are good for you and lend themselves to a wide variety of recipes. Pancakes, cobbler, pie, jam, muffins, cheesecake … the list of baked goods that blueberries work with goes on and on. I’ve included some unusual recipes here that use blueberries in atypical ways just to keep you on your toes.
Reproduced from a article in Mexico Daily News
