Purple Food: 5 Trend Setting Wild Blueberry Recipes
As we reflect on this year’s health food highlights, it’s clear it was a breakthrough year for purple. Purple cauliflower made its foray onto our plates, along with purple asparagus, purple sweet potatoes, purple corn, and purple fruits like elderberries, acai, and Wild Blueberries.
Why?
According to the 2017 Whole Foods Top 10 Trends, “Richly colored purple foods are popping up everywhere [and] the power of purple goes beyond the vibrant color and often indicates nutrient density and antioxidants.”
Here at Wild Blueberries we’re excited that our superfruit and its similarly colored peers are catching some well-deserved attention. We’ve been extolling the incredible health benefits of Wild Blueberries for more than 20 years. Among their nutritional highlights, they are:
- Naturally high in fiber (72% more fiber than regular blueberries)
- Contain 2X the antioxidants of regular blueberries
- Are a low sugar fruit, with a score of 53 on the Glycemic Index scale
- Are an excellent source of manganese
- Are naturally low in fat
- Have only 80 calories per cup
Over the last 20 years, powerful group of health researchers has met annually in Maine to share their Wild Blueberry research and collaborate. Many have been credited with groundbreaking research that advances our understanding of how these tiny berries can make a big impact on human health. Their work includes:
- Antioxidant Research
- Brain Health and Cognitive Research
- Cancer Research
- Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome Research
- Gut Health Research
- Heart Health Research
- Metabolism Research
If you haven’t explored the Purple Power trend, it’s not too late -– the benefits of eating healthy food do not expire at midnight of the New Year! To help you go purple, here’s a collection of some of our favorite Wild Blueberry recipes for any time of day and any time of year. Remember, you can always find Wild Blueberries in the frozen aisle of your supermarket.
Wild Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes
If breakfast isn’t your favorite meal of the day, this Wild Blueberry recipe will have you asking why. The best part about these pancakes? Skip the maple syrup and load up on the antioxidant-rich Wild Blueberry sauce!
Wild Blueberry Orzo with Asparagus
This delicious salad from Danielle Omar, MS RDN, will remind you of summer. The Wild Blueberry vinaigrette is so zesty and fresh that you’ll want to try it on just about everything. You can easily keep this as a side dish, or turn it into a main dish by adding chicken or salmon.
Wild Blueberry Flax Muffin Smoothie
We can’t forget one of our favorite smoothies from 2017! This equally stunning and delicious smoothie was created by Charlotte Martin for our Wild Your Smoothie recipe competition. It’s full of flavor and protein to make a perfect grab-and-go meal for those busy mornings.
Blueberry, Tomato and Goat Cheese Naan Pizza
Our friends over at Backyard Farms let us share this creation, and we cannot get over it! It’s super easy to make, full of color and we love the pairing of flavors – especially goat cheese, Wild Blueberries and balsamic vinegar.
Once you tell your guests you have a treat that’s loaded with antioxidants, they’ll find it hard to refuse. This recipe from Danielle Omar, MS, RDN is an anytime-of-day delight: perfect with coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, or a delicious dessert.