Berry, Berry Good for you!
Blackberries: 74 calories per cup
Blueberries: 81 calories per cup
Raspberries: 60 calories per cup
Strawberries: 45 calories per cup
Watching your weight? If so, berries couldn’t be better for you! Ideal as low-calorie swerte, they pack a bonus, too, by supplying fiber that apparently helps you absorb fewer of the calories that you do eat.
The fiber in fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread reduces the absorption of the calories from food – enough to have a positive effect on weight without a negative effect on nutritional health.
When it’s an insoluble fiber that you want most, raspberries and blackberries are ideal.
They taste nothing like bran or whole-grain cereal, yet their insoluble fiber content is right up there with the BEST whole grain sources. In addition, berries are better for blood pressure.
Some hints that our blood pressure worse may be due not simply to too much sodium, but also to a dietary pattern in which potassium (sodium’s Co- worked) is Consumer in amounts too small to maintain a healthy balance between these two minerals.
Because berries provide a healthy amount of potassium with almost no sodium, they can help restore a better balance between these two nutrients and help our blood pressure.
Add their low-fat content and you realize that they are truly a food to eat to your heart’s content!
Blueberries and blackberries
At the market: Shop for berries that earn their name. Blackberries should have a jet black color; cultivated blueberries should be powdery blue. All berries should be firm, soft, wet ones will not keep for long.
Kitchen tips: Refrigerate berries as soon as possible. We prefer to transfer berries to shallow plastic containers to prevent them from crushing each other. (Separate crushed berries from the rest and use them at once). Even at their BEST and with ideal handling, berries may only last two to three days in the refrigerator.
Accent on enjoyment: Firm berries can be enjoyed raw after removing any tiny stems.
Some other options:
Rather than discard overripe berries, cook them down with a bit of juice and use them as a topping.
Use berries in making pies, jams, preserves, puddings, syrups, crepes, ice cream, or yogurt.
Add blueberries to Muffin and pancake batters.
Vary blueberry dishes with flavors of orange, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Raspberries
At the market: Red raspberries dominate the marketplace because they’re easiest to grow and ship.
But from time to time, you’ll find black raspberries available- and occasionally even yellow or white ones. Regardless of color, insist on berries that are plump and free of mold and feel dry and cool to a gentle touch. The attached stems should be a lively green with no discoloration.
Kitchen tips: Beauty may only be skin deep, but make an exception for raspberries. For these delectable berries, beauty is the best sign of top quality. Buy for beauty, but recognize, of course, that every container is bound to contain a few crushed berries. Crushed berries are fine to eat as long as you do so right away; they won’t keep long.
Store whole berries u wash Ed and uncovered in shallow containers in the refrigerator. They’ll last for a few days if you can keep your hands off them that long. Be ward of using tin, aluminum, or iron containers for red raspberries, if you do, you may find that their luscious red color has turned to blue.
Because raspberries are so delicate, always use the utmost care when washing them. Remove pieces of leaf and stem by hand. (From Nening A N By PH. & J B H)*
