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    Small berries, big effect - ideal vitamin bombs for the whole year!

Small berries, big effect - ideal vitamin bombs for the whole year!

Berries - the health bombs of our mother earth! You would love to eat the small nutrient bombs all year round - this is how it works!  
Berries are all-rounders

Berries impress with their bright colors and sweet and sour taste. The little fruits are true all-rounders: Thanks to many valuable ingredients and the few calories of 33kcal/100g berries are super healthy and delicious in all varieties.

Berry variety

The most common berries are closed fruits: they remain closed when fully ripe and their seeds are thus enclosed in the pulp. These include not only classic berries such as currants, blueberries or grapes, but also bananas, kiwis, dates, cucumbers and pumpkins. The last two are called armored berries because of the hard outer layer. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are not berries in botanical terms, but are aggregate fruits.

Vitamin content and needs

Fresh from the bush, berries contain the most vitamins and nutrients. Transport, storage and processing reduces the content. The greatest losses of nutrients occur through oxygen, heat and water. For example, cooking reduces the vitamin C content by more than 50%. When frozen, comparatively many nutrients are retained.

However, if you don't have berries in your garden, you can of course turn to other nutrient-rich vitamin C sources. In the supermarket there are numerous varieties and products with high vitamin content, such as the smoothies or 100% juices from Rauch; both contain high-quality vitamin C. An adult's requirement for vitamin C is listed as 100 mg per day, so these drinks can make a significant contribution.

Useful tips

- Purchasing: look for plump fruit, as berries are very sensitive to pressure and will mold quickly after injury.
- Washing: Dip the berries briefly in standing water and then place them on a paper towel to drain so they don't turn mushy.
- Storage: Fresh berries will keep in the refrigerator for a safe to two days.

Having berries all year

Berries are ideal for freezing, keeping the following in mind:

1. wash, remove the green (or stems) and "pre-freeze". Pre-freezing means: Place the berries individually with some distance on a large plate or tray. Place this in the freezer for two to three hours. This prevents the berries from sticking together later, which makes portioning easier.

2. After pre-freezing, the individual berries can be transferred together into a sealable container. Do not forget to mark the bags with the date.

If necessary, remove frozen berries from the freezer in portions and cover and thaw in a small bowl, first in the refrigerator and later at room temperature. This is gentler on the delicate fruit. By the way, frozen berries can be kept in the freezer for six to eight months.

Tip: Some berries can also be frozen in a puree. To do this, process the prepared berries into a puree with a hand blender and fill into ice cube trays. The thawed strawberry puree refines desserts, ice cream or cocktails in no time.

Autor: Olympiazentrum Vorarlberg