Switzerland: Blueberries on the rise

Blueberries are popular in Switzerland, and their consumption is increasing. In Swiss supermarkets, Swiss blueberries are also increasingly sold between July and September, German website Gabot.de reports.

The powerful flavour and intense colour of the blueberry is being discovered more and more in Swiss cuisine, for instance to decorate cakes and pies, or as jam. The imported quantity has indeed increased over the years, but in the past years the cultivation area in Switzerland was also expanded quite a bit: from a cultivated acreage of 39.1 hectares in 2008, to a cultivated acreage of 73.4 hectares in 2014. That's because blueberry production is attractive, thanks to good selling prices.

Worldwide, professional cultivation of blueberries is mainly focused in the US, however, where over half of the global production comes from. The Americans also take the lead in cultivation, which is why mostly American blueberries are grown in Europe. These are larger and less aromatic than the wild blueberry. In addition, they don't cause discolouration in the mouth after consumption, since the anthocyanins that give off colour are only found in the skin with the American varieties, not in the flesh.