Party Platters
Yes, Mother's has a party platter with your name on it! They're perfect for your next party, meeting or event.
Enjoy Blueberry Season |
| Posted by Teri Greene-Montgomery Advertiser on July 5th, 2011 Blueberries are at the peak of their season right now, as ripe for the picking as they'll be all year. It's common knowledge that these juicy, colorful little berries have landed in the super food category, packing a powerful antioxidant punch that helps protect against cancer, heart disease and other age-related diseases. At only 80 fat-free calories per cup, blueberries are a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin C. This may come as a surprise: They also happen to be indigenous to Alabama, in the fruit's "rabbit eye" variety, said Dr. Arlie Powell of Petals from the Past, in Jemison. Petals from the Past is home of the annual Black and Blue Berry Festival, which draws thousands of people each year to the Alabama town of Jemison to pick the berries, walk among the fields and sample an array of desserts made from the freshly picked fruit. (The farm -- producing from May to December fruits including the berries, muscadines, figs, oriental persimmons, satsumas and kumquats, among others, as well as antique roses and a variety of vegetables -- is a gardener's paradise.) In Alabahma, blackberries, the state's official fruit, may have stolen the spotlight from blueberries in years past, Powell said. After all, a lot of folks fondly remember picking fresh blackberries in the woods and eating them right on the spot. But blueberries' growth, and the increasing awareness of their prevalence in the Southeast have exploded in recent decades. In the not-too-distant past, blueberries were known as a mostly northern crop, with New Jersey, Michigan and Oregon among the biggest producers. Things have changed. "The Southern blueberry industry is huge," Powell said, estimating that there are around 25,000 acres of blueberry fields in the Southeast U.S. "Once we got the hybrids that we could grow, it really got things started. People started realizing the Southern blueberry is pretty darn good, and people can grow them in their backyards, from one end of the state to the other." The Alabama rabbit-eye variety is so named because it transforms from a light green to a bright pink. Both blackberries and blueberries are indigenous to the Southeast -- they're native crops, he said, and have only been perfected as time has passed. "Over 100 years-plus, breeders have gone and selected the best iHn the wild and crossed this one with that one." And blueberries nationwide are about to get a tremendous amount of hype, courtesy of the Folsom, Calif.-based U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, which has attached the nickname "little blue dynamos" to the fruit, based on consumer research that recently discovered that people find blueberries "energetic, fun and magnetic," and they remind folks of good times and social activities. Put "little blue dynamos" in the YouTube search field to see their big campaign. Aside from enjoying the berries in their fresh form, Powell favors his wife's blueberry crisp. But then, there's the simple pleasure of squeezing a berry over a dish of vanilla ice cream, he said, letting the antioxidants and bright purple/pink/blue pigment flow over scoops in a bowl. |
Special Diets
At Mother's Market we have an unbeatable selection of foods for special diets. So whatever you need, Mother's is the place to find it.
- Organic Foods
- Gluten-Free
- Non-GMO
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Low-Sodium
- Raw Foods
- Dairy Free
- Low-Glycemic