8 ms·

‘The best blueberry’: how a tiny North American fruit took over Australia (2022)

61 points by calf 3y ago

calf 3y ago
Was eating Canadian blueberries today as they're in season, and thought to read a little about blueberries and found this article discussing the super-sized Australian blueberries that were going around social media in recent years.
dmckeon 3y ago
> The Eureka is no ordinary blueberry. It is large – often the width of a dollar coin. Okay, what country's dollar? Australia? Canada? The USA? And if the USA, a Sacky, Tony, or Ike? Perhaps the Guardian is returning the favors of US journalists who insist on using measurement units of football fields, swimming pools, and 747s for length, volume, and mass. I expect we will soon see time measurements reported in coffee breaks, Youtube videos, or micro-Tik-Toks.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  Given that the story is about Australia, it's reasonable to assume it's an Australian dollar, which is about the width of a US quarter.
  - defrost 3y ago
    Agreed. More to that is the author Nicole Hasham is an Australian environment and energy journalist | editor | correspondent for several Australian publications. The UK Guardian sources a fair amount of material from Australian contributors.
    - skissane 3y ago
      Added to that, the Guardian has an (online-only) Australian edition, with staff based in Australia to help produce it. Decent chance this article was originally written for their Australian edition. They have four online editions (UK, US, Australia, International). All four contain the same articles; the difference is basically in which articles are on the front page, and the hierarchy of their categorisation system (e.g. “UK Politics” is a top-level category for the UK edition, but buried deeper for the other three.) Certainly all three of the UK, US and Australia editions commission original content from local journalists designed to appeal to the interests of that country’s readers.
- LanceH 3y ago
  As an American, the width of an Australian dollar coin seems perfectly reasonable.
  - llamaLord 3y ago
    As an Australian, the one thing about America I wish we DID copy was the idea of $2/1 notes. Coins are such a pain in the ass, but $1/2 is enough that I don't just want to refuse the change to avoid the inconveniences of carrying coins.
    - PeterStuer 3y ago
      Not advocating for digital only, but I can't even remember the last time I carried cash.
      - llamaLord 3y ago
        I mean... Yes, but IMO I think I'd be much more likely to carry a small amount of cash if I didn't have to worry about it converting into 10 different coins once I break the big note.
    - hnick 3y ago
      We did have them. We got rid of them because coins last longer so are more cost effective for small amounts like that.
      - llamaLord 3y ago
        Was that before or after polymer notes? I have to assume that a polymer $1/2 wouldn't have this issue?
        hnick 3y ago
        I'm not sure but it looks like it was 1988 for the coins, which is when the notes were removed, then 1996 for finalising the switch to polymer notes, with some earlier introductions. I think whether it would help is somewhat complex because polymer notes do still wear out, and lower value notes have higher usage which makes them wear out faster. IIRC the main driver for polymer was security with durability as a nice side effect. This link https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/sep/7.html https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/sep/7.html says that median life for $5 notes is 3.5 years under one measurement system, which I would presume would be even lower for $1/$2 if we used them, since they'd get more frequent usage and less storage. It should be possible to calculate the costs, savings, and lifetime of all the coin and note variations but that's a bit much for me right now :)
- lorax 3y ago
  Given that the Ike hasn't been minted in 45 years, I think it is safe to say it is not that. The Sacky and Tony are exactly the same width, 26.5 mm. The Canadian dollar is also 26.5 mm (as are the Prezzies and the Innos, and why are we Infantilizing coins anyway). The Australian dollar is a touch smaller, 25 mm. So I think the answer to your question is "all of them", 1.5 mm is likely larger than the variation between blueberries. Converting that to Library of Congresses or National Library of Austrailias is left as an exercise to the reader.
resolutebat 3y ago
Change my mind: bilberries aka European blueberries (small, dark red/purple flesh) are superior to the American version (large, blue skin, but white and tasteless on the inside). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry
- bensecure 3y ago
  > (large, blue skin, but white and tasteless on the inside). That's just farmed blueberries. Wild blueberries are smaller, with blue and much more flavourful insides. It's an unfortunate reality with grocery stores that since people buy based on looks, farms will optimize for what looks good rather than what tastes good.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - zdragnar 3y ago
    They also optimize for transportation, which in the US tends to be very far indeed. Many kinds of fruit and veg are picked when they are just ripe, or not yet ripe and artificially ripened with ethylene or similar.
    - joecool1029 3y ago
      The sad state of grocery store tomatoes is a testament to optimizing for transportation. The best tasting ones blemish/spoil easily. The tougher ones usually sold in stores just don't have much flavor.
  - Turskarama 3y ago
    It's not even about optimizing for looks so much as size. A given blueberry bush will grow a certain _number_ of blueberries, while they are sold by weight. For that reason the farmer makes more money by getting the bush to grow the largest blueberries possible, and the larger ones tend to taste less good.
morkalork 3y ago
One day maybe they'll discover Saskatoon berries
- sdwr 3y ago
  I never cared for sask berries as a kid (spoiled on wild blueberries!). Tried a few at the dog park last week, pretty tasty!
civilitty 3y ago
Does that mean that these blueberries don’t need 400+ hours of frost to fruit? That’s the primary obstacle to growing them here in California and I’m really curious if they bred the frost requirement out of the Eureka blueberries, or if Australia is colder than I thought. I’d kill to experiment with growing my own because the blueberries sold here are nothing like the wild blueberries from my childhood
- girvo 3y ago
  Parts of Australia are indeed colder than you think, at least out in Lismore during the winter.
  - civilitty 3y ago
    20 days of below zero temperatures though? Wikipedia lists Lismore’s record low temperature as -3 C and an average low of 6.5 C in the depth of winter. That’s way too hot for blueberries to fruit. I figured inland Australia got significantly colder but without the rainfall to support blueberries. The farm does have Mountain in the name though so I assume they grow at a higher altitude, but I grow at a significant altitude in California too and it doesn’t drop the temperature enough, at least in high desert climates. Still seems like they've made some progress on reducing frost requirements.
    - girvo 3y ago
      > Still seems like they've made some progress on reducing frost requirements. Most likely, it's just that the common assumption is that all of Australia is hot and miserable, whereas not all of it is. They're not actually in Lismore, they're near it. My blueberries fruited without needing frost (we get none where I am in South East Queensland); it's definitely been bred out of them as a requirement I think?
      - civilitty 3y ago
        > My blueberries fruited without needing frost (we get none where I am in South East Queensland); it's definitely been bred out of them as a requirement I think? That’s awesome! Do you know what varieties you have? Did you buy seeds online or get plants from a nursery?
doitLP 3y ago
Here’s a link to internationalblueberry.org showing the monster Eureka berries: https://www.internationalblueberry.org/2018/03/28/eureka-throws-its-weight-around/ https://www.internationalblueberry.org/2018/03/28/eureka-thr... International Blueberry is “a global organization bringing together leaders from around the blueberry world in all segments of the industry” The ‘blueberry world’. What’ll they think of next!?
- ggillas 3y ago
  Ha, I had a chance to work in the "blueberry world" over a decade ago. Ridley's blueberries are bred for flavor first and truly are exceptional. Most of the comments are correct, generally fruit is grown for looks first, yield second, and spoilage third. Flavor doesn't even factor in. If you're in N America, here's the farmer that grows his cultivars: https://familytreefarms.com/fruit/blueberries/ https://familytreefarms.com/fruit/blueberries/ Best chance of finding them in stories is during the March-April window in the US.
rightbyte 3y ago
American blueberries are tasteless. I dunno why the article cheers them. They are like good for decoration. How does wild American blueberries taste? Anyone tried?
- Pigalowda 3y ago
  I ate what i think were wild blueberries on a hike last year (late August, Mt. Dickerman in Washington). They were smaller, wine colored, sweet, and tart. I liked them a lot more than store bought blueberries which I actually don’t like eating. I think store bought are good in blended shakes but mostly because they add sweetness.
- wintermutestwin 3y ago
  You can get frozen wild American blueberries from Trader Joes. They are small, firm and tart unlike the mealy, flavorless American blueberry.
nelox 3y ago
Almost none of the farmed produce of Australia is native to Australia.

61 points by calf 3y ago

calf 3y ago

Was eating Canadian blueberries today as they're in season, and thought to read a little about blueberries and found this article discussing the super-sized Australian blueberries that were going around social media in recent years.

dmckeon 3y ago

> The Eureka is no ordinary blueberry. It is large – often the width of a dollar coin. Okay, what country's dollar? Australia? Canada? The USA? And if the USA, a Sacky, Tony, or Ike? Perhaps the Guardian is returning the favors of US journalists who insist on using measurement units of football fields, swimming pools, and 747s for length, volume, and mass. I expect we will soon see time measurements reported in coffee breaks, Youtube videos, or micro-Tik-Toks.

resolutebat 3y ago
Given that the story is about Australia, it's reasonable to assume it's an Australian dollar, which is about the width of a US quarter.
- defrost 3y ago
  Agreed. More to that is the author Nicole Hasham is an Australian environment and energy journalist | editor | correspondent for several Australian publications. The UK Guardian sources a fair amount of material from Australian contributors.
  - skissane 3y ago
    Added to that, the Guardian has an (online-only) Australian edition, with staff based in Australia to help produce it. Decent chance this article was originally written for their Australian edition. They have four online editions (UK, US, Australia, International). All four contain the same articles; the difference is basically in which articles are on the front page, and the hierarchy of their categorisation system (e.g. “UK Politics” is a top-level category for the UK edition, but buried deeper for the other three.) Certainly all three of the UK, US and Australia editions commission original content from local journalists designed to appeal to the interests of that country’s readers.
LanceH 3y ago
As an American, the width of an Australian dollar coin seems perfectly reasonable.
- llamaLord 3y ago
  As an Australian, the one thing about America I wish we DID copy was the idea of $2/1 notes. Coins are such a pain in the ass, but $1/2 is enough that I don't just want to refuse the change to avoid the inconveniences of carrying coins.
  - PeterStuer 3y ago
    Not advocating for digital only, but I can't even remember the last time I carried cash.
    - llamaLord 3y ago
      I mean... Yes, but IMO I think I'd be much more likely to carry a small amount of cash if I didn't have to worry about it converting into 10 different coins once I break the big note.
  - hnick 3y ago
    We did have them. We got rid of them because coins last longer so are more cost effective for small amounts like that.
    - llamaLord 3y ago
      Was that before or after polymer notes? I have to assume that a polymer $1/2 wouldn't have this issue?
      - hnick 3y ago
        I'm not sure but it looks like it was 1988 for the coins, which is when the notes were removed, then 1996 for finalising the switch to polymer notes, with some earlier introductions. I think whether it would help is somewhat complex because polymer notes do still wear out, and lower value notes have higher usage which makes them wear out faster. IIRC the main driver for polymer was security with durability as a nice side effect. This link https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/sep/7.html https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2015/sep/7.html says that median life for $5 notes is 3.5 years under one measurement system, which I would presume would be even lower for $1/$2 if we used them, since they'd get more frequent usage and less storage. It should be possible to calculate the costs, savings, and lifetime of all the coin and note variations but that's a bit much for me right now :)
lorax 3y ago
Given that the Ike hasn't been minted in 45 years, I think it is safe to say it is not that. The Sacky and Tony are exactly the same width, 26.5 mm. The Canadian dollar is also 26.5 mm (as are the Prezzies and the Innos, and why are we Infantilizing coins anyway). The Australian dollar is a touch smaller, 25 mm. So I think the answer to your question is "all of them", 1.5 mm is likely larger than the variation between blueberries. Converting that to Library of Congresses or National Library of Austrailias is left as an exercise to the reader.

resolutebat 3y ago

Change my mind: bilberries aka European blueberries (small, dark red/purple flesh) are superior to the American version (large, blue skin, but white and tasteless on the inside). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilberry

bensecure 3y ago
> (large, blue skin, but white and tasteless on the inside). That's just farmed blueberries. Wild blueberries are smaller, with blue and much more flavourful insides. It's an unfortunate reality with grocery stores that since people buy based on looks, farms will optimize for what looks good rather than what tastes good.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- zdragnar 3y ago
  They also optimize for transportation, which in the US tends to be very far indeed. Many kinds of fruit and veg are picked when they are just ripe, or not yet ripe and artificially ripened with ethylene or similar.
  - joecool1029 3y ago
    The sad state of grocery store tomatoes is a testament to optimizing for transportation. The best tasting ones blemish/spoil easily. The tougher ones usually sold in stores just don't have much flavor.
- Turskarama 3y ago
  It's not even about optimizing for looks so much as size. A given blueberry bush will grow a certain _number_ of blueberries, while they are sold by weight. For that reason the farmer makes more money by getting the bush to grow the largest blueberries possible, and the larger ones tend to taste less good.

morkalork 3y ago

One day maybe they'll discover Saskatoon berries

sdwr 3y ago
I never cared for sask berries as a kid (spoiled on wild blueberries!). Tried a few at the dog park last week, pretty tasty!

civilitty 3y ago

Does that mean that these blueberries don’t need 400+ hours of frost to fruit? That’s the primary obstacle to growing them here in California and I’m really curious if they bred the frost requirement out of the Eureka blueberries, or if Australia is colder than I thought. I’d kill to experiment with growing my own because the blueberries sold here are nothing like the wild blueberries from my childhood

girvo 3y ago
Parts of Australia are indeed colder than you think, at least out in Lismore during the winter.
- civilitty 3y ago
  20 days of below zero temperatures though? Wikipedia lists Lismore’s record low temperature as -3 C and an average low of 6.5 C in the depth of winter. That’s way too hot for blueberries to fruit. I figured inland Australia got significantly colder but without the rainfall to support blueberries. The farm does have Mountain in the name though so I assume they grow at a higher altitude, but I grow at a significant altitude in California too and it doesn’t drop the temperature enough, at least in high desert climates. Still seems like they've made some progress on reducing frost requirements.
  - girvo 3y ago
    > Still seems like they've made some progress on reducing frost requirements. Most likely, it's just that the common assumption is that all of Australia is hot and miserable, whereas not all of it is. They're not actually in Lismore, they're near it. My blueberries fruited without needing frost (we get none where I am in South East Queensland); it's definitely been bred out of them as a requirement I think?
    - civilitty 3y ago
      > My blueberries fruited without needing frost (we get none where I am in South East Queensland); it's definitely been bred out of them as a requirement I think? That’s awesome! Do you know what varieties you have? Did you buy seeds online or get plants from a nursery?

doitLP 3y ago

Here’s a link to internationalblueberry.org showing the monster Eureka berries: https://www.internationalblueberry.org/2018/03/28/eureka-throws-its-weight-around/ https://www.internationalblueberry.org/2018/03/28/eureka-thr... International Blueberry is “a global organization bringing together leaders from around the blueberry world in all segments of the industry” The ‘blueberry world’. What’ll they think of next!?

ggillas 3y ago
Ha, I had a chance to work in the "blueberry world" over a decade ago. Ridley's blueberries are bred for flavor first and truly are exceptional. Most of the comments are correct, generally fruit is grown for looks first, yield second, and spoilage third. Flavor doesn't even factor in. If you're in N America, here's the farmer that grows his cultivars: https://familytreefarms.com/fruit/blueberries/ https://familytreefarms.com/fruit/blueberries/ Best chance of finding them in stories is during the March-April window in the US.

rightbyte 3y ago

American blueberries are tasteless. I dunno why the article cheers them. They are like good for decoration. How does wild American blueberries taste? Anyone tried?

Pigalowda 3y ago
I ate what i think were wild blueberries on a hike last year (late August, Mt. Dickerman in Washington). They were smaller, wine colored, sweet, and tart. I liked them a lot more than store bought blueberries which I actually don’t like eating. I think store bought are good in blended shakes but mostly because they add sweetness.
wintermutestwin 3y ago
You can get frozen wild American blueberries from Trader Joes. They are small, firm and tart unlike the mealy, flavorless American blueberry.

nelox 3y ago

Almost none of the farmed produce of Australia is native to Australia.