Blueberry Chutney, Why not!

We have always heard that some of our  growers love to make blueberry chutney!  Here is an example of the concept with a Latin American twist!  Made in Argentina!

New Product Trend - Meal Replacement

Now from the USA -- here is a new concept that is sure to grow in popularity.  Take all sorts of "good for you" ingredients including blueberries.  Blend into a jam and you have a meal replacement!

Here is how the company describes!

Plnt by V Chocolate Plant Protein Meal Replacement is now available. It provides energy, satisfies hunger and is free from GMOs, gluten, dairy, soy, nuts, yeast, wheat, fish, animal derivatives, artificial additives, synthetic preservatives, colors, flavors and sweeteners. The vegan product is said to be made with some of the finest natural ingredients and whole foods, contains 17g of protein, and retails in a 1.2-lb. pack.

USHBC Visits School Foodservice Conference

The School Nutrition Association (SNA)  is the organization of professionals who feed students across the nation.  This includes food service directors from school districts, workers and suppliers.    This year the SNA annual meeting was held in San Antonio, Texas July 17-19 and USHBC attended with to meet with the suppliers and school food processors.   The concept: frozen blueberries are received by approved processing companies in different states who are allowed to combine blueberries with other fruits and deliver to districts as finished products.   Districts like to receive the finished products.  At this conference we met with dozens of companies producing muffins, pies and even real fruit pops.

Freeze Dry and Powders at IFT Exhibiton

USHBC exhibited at the recent National Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in Chicago July 17-19, 2016.   What's new?  Blueberry powders were presented by several companies.  Interesting to see the "fresh to powder" messaging.   These powders are used in all sorts of low moisture foods.  Another message which was prominent: "Made in the USA."  This term counters some of the food industry desire to find foods produced in North America for food safety and traceability reasons.

New York Blueberry Bagels in the UK!

Here is an example of American concepts going global.   The New York Bagel is produced and distributed throughout the United Kingdom.  It uses dried blueberries which work just great in the firm bagel dough.

Blueberry Baby Foods

The baby food sector worldwide is using more and more blueberries!   Here is a great example of how real blueberries are used to enhance by Gerber/Nestle in Poland!
No doubt there are blueberries inside this one!

Japan New Products Continue at Record Pace!

Thank you Japan!  Check out the Mintel Global New Products (GNPD) chart showing new product development in Japan with blueberries!

This steady rise beats all of the odds considering the tremendous challenges that the Japanese economy has faced since the terrible natural disasters and aftermath in March 2011.  Almost all fruit and vegetable shipments to Japan have fallen -- except for frozen highbush blueberries!

Here are some interesting products from the first few months of 2016.

Here is a delicious ice cream bar sold throughout Japan at the 7-11 convenience stores.  (all 57,500 stores and growing).  This bar integrates dried highbush blueberries and blueberry crumbles on the outside!

Kagome launched a shelf stable blueberry smoothie.   It is 100 percent juice and contains all sorts of different fruits -- but blueberries dominate!

This product is filed in the only-in Japan bin!  A gummy candy with real blueberry and chia!    This is an example of how functional foods have gone mainstream.  Blueberry guy loves the UFO mascot on the lower right of the package!