BLUEBERRY NECTAR

Blueberry nectar is the juice obtained from pressing the fruit by separating the pulp, to which only water and sugar are added to make the taste and consistency more pleasant.

The blueberry is the fruit of a wild plant that is part of the berries, it is a round berry with a characteristic blue colour. 

It is particularly common in Europe and Italy, where it is cultivated mainly in the northern and mountainous areas, in fact it prefers altitudes above 1000 metres from the sea, so it is not afraid of cold climates and harsh, snowy winters.

The plant is native to North America, the natives used to pick its spontaneous fruits and often also cultivated it. After the discovery of the Americas and the subsequent colonisation of their territories, this cultivation became important in the Old Continent by the colonists and the conquistadors, who had learned its many uses from the Indians overseas.

Even today, the blueberry is particularly appreciated for its many health and beauty benefits. It is an excellent diuretic, a natural anti-oxidant and helps the cardiovascular system thanks to its properties.

The origins of fruit juice are lost in the mists of time. Thousands of years ago, well before the year zero, our ancestors were already producing and consuming drinks made from fruit, especially grapes. 

The first juices, more similar to those we know today, are more recent, starting in the 16th century, when the Italians, using lemons from the Amalfi Coast, began producing and selling lemonade, a sweet and thirst-quenching drink, in the Middle East via the Indies Route. A few decades later, juices made from other citrus fruits, such as oranges, also began to circulate.

The real success and spread of juices, as we know them today, came in the 18th century, when Scottish physician James Lind began producing fruit extracts, mainly based on citrus fruits, as an effective remedy against scurvy. In fact, Vitamin C is essential for fighting the onset of this disease and raising the body’s immune defences.

This remedy was so effective that in 1867 the Merchant Shopping Act decided that all ships had to carry it on board. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lind himself devised a way to avoid fermentation: using glass bottles sealed with corks, the product could be boiled in water, thus achieving an effect similar to modern pasteurisation. This meant that large quantities could be stored in ships’ galleys, which was essential on long sea voyages as it was impossible to keep fruit and vegetables fresh for so long at the time.