Latest news with #blueberries
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The #1 Surprising Fruit With More Antioxidants Than Blueberries
Blueberries are famed for their antioxidant content, but pomegranates deserve the spotlight, too. The antioxidants in pomegranates may support brain health, blood pressure and inflammation. There are endless ways to enjoy antioxidants, from nut-topped salads to pomegranate usually get most of the attention when it comes to antioxidant-rich fruits, but believe it or not, pomegranates contain more antioxidants per serving. While you won't find a standardized "antioxidant content" listed on nutrition labels (unlike vitamins or minerals), researchers often measure antioxidant capacity by total polyphenol content. There are many varieties of pomegranates and blueberries, as well as methods of measuring antioxidant content, so an exact number can be hard to nail down—hence the averaged ranges provided. That said, a ½ cup serving (about 100 grams) of blueberries contains about 200 to 500 milligrams (mg) of polyphenols, while the same serving of pomegranate arils packs between 400 and 800 mg of polyphenols. Antioxidants are kind of a big deal when it comes to your health and wellness, and with good reason. These potent plant compounds offer numerous health benefits and help prevent various diseases. We spoke with registered dietitians to better understand why pomegranates (and antioxidants) are so good for you, why you should be eating (and drinking) more of them, plus tips for increasing your antioxidant intake. As we mentioned, pomegranates are an excellent source of antioxidants, which help protect the body from oxidative stress caused by free radicals. According to Lindsay Fencl, RD, CD, antioxidants support health and prevent disease by neutralizing free radicals, which are chemically unstable molecules that can damage cells, proteins and DNA. High amounts of free radicals in the body can be harmful and contribute to many chronic diseases. 'A diet rich in antioxidants has been linked to benefits like lower inflammation, better heart health, and protection against certain chronic diseases,' says Caroline Thomason, RD, CDCES. 'The ruby-red arils in pomegranates contain anthocyanins, while the rind and pith are rich in ellagitannins, both of which have been studied for heart health, reducing inflammation, and even supporting healthy blood pressure,' says Thomason. Try adding pomegranate arils to salads like this Cucumber & Pomegranate Salad or our Romaine Salad with Orange and Radish. While acute inflammation is the body's normal response to what it perceives as a threat or an invader (like a bug bite or a cold virus), chronic inflammation that persists over long periods can have negative health consequences, like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and digestive disorders. Pomegranates reduce inflammation primarily through their high polyphenol content. 'There are many polyphenols in pomegranates, including flavonoids, tannins, and phenolic acids – all of which have anti-inflammatory effects in the body,' says Fencl. Consuming pomegranates regularly—whether via the little seed-like arils or from the juice—can help reduce inflammation and the risk of developing chronic disease. To boost your intake, check out these healthy pomegranate recipes. If you're looking for ways to lower your blood pressure, pomegranates are a great way to go because of their antioxidant polyphenols. Research shows that drinking pomegranate juice as part of a balanced diet can help lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. 'The polyphenols in pomegranate juice help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in blood vessels, which promotes healthy blood circulation and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease,' explains Fencl. Keep in mind, when you drink pomegranate juice, you aren't getting the fiber you would from eating the arils. If you're concerned about your blood sugar, pair the juice with a balanced meal with protein, fat and fiber. Cognitive dysfunction, such as dementia, is the most common neurological disorder that affects memory, perception, learning and problem-solving. Research suggests that the foods you eat may prevent or accelerate the onset of neurodegenerative diseases, and including antioxidant-rich pomegranates in your diet may reduce your risk. 'Antioxidants in pomegranates reduce neuroinflammation and oxidative damage, which has been shown to support cognitive function and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases,' says Fencl. To keep your brain in tip-top shape, add pomegranates and other antioxidant-rich foods to your meals and snacks. Eat a variety of colorful fruits and veggies daily. Thomason recommends incorporating foods with a deep hue—like berries, leafy greens, nuts and seeds—regularly. 'Each color offers different types of antioxidants.' Drink antioxidant-rich beverages. Colorful juices, like pomegranate juices and tart cherry juice, 'provide a concentrated source of polyphenols that can complement a well-rounded diet,' says Thomason. Jazz up meals with chopped nuts. 'Sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts on salads and bowls for an antioxidant boost and added crunch,' suggests Fencl. Top yogurt or oatmeal with berries. Fencl recommends topping Greek yogurt or oatmeal with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. Roast colorful veggies. Try our recipe for Anti-Inflammatory Sheet-Pan Roasted Veggies. It's packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients like carrots, butternut squash and Brussels sprouts. Plus, purple sweet potatoes offer all the perks of regular sweet potatoes with an extra dose of anthocyanins. Serve with chicken or fish for a balanced meal. Use olive oil in cooking. Olive oil contains antioxidants and plant compounds that may support overall health. Check out these Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings Made with Olive Oil, and this Olive Oil-Braised Summer Squash for ideas on how to use it. Pomegranates are high in antioxidants that may offer several health benefits, including reduced inflammation, healthy blood pressure and brain health protection. Eating a balanced diet full of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and heart-healthy oils will help you increase your antioxidant intake, reduce oxidative stress and support your the original article on EATINGWELL
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pick your own produce: Where to go in and around Cumberland County
There's something satisfying about plucking a sun-ripened strawberry straight from the field or filling a bucket with blueberries you picked yourself. In Cumberland County and the surrounding areas, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy that experience. In and around Fayetteville, several farms offer pick-your-own experiences throughout the growing season, giving locals a chance to connect with their food, support small businesses and enjoy a day outdoors. From blueberries to corn, here are some pick-your-own farms to visit this season if you're looking to harvest your own produce. William's Produce is an Autryville-based farm that offers pick-your-own strawberries six days a week. Address: 2840 Maxwell Road, Autryville Phone: 910-567-6719 Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Closed on Sundays. On the web: Search "Williams' Produce" on Facebook. Gross Farms, located in Sanford about 50 minutes from Fayetteville, will continue its pick-your-own strawberry season through June 7, according to the farm's Facebook page. The cost is $18 per bucket, and visitors must arrive before 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday to pick your fruit. Address: 1606 Pickett Road, Sanford Phone: 919-498-6727 Hours: Open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays. On the web: Search "Gross Farms" on Facebook. At White Hill Farms Strawberry & Produce in Cameron, about an hour's drive from Fayetteville, you can pick your own blackberries starting the first week of June, according to owner Anna Jackson. Address: 5020 South Plank Road, Cameron Phone: 910-783-8552 Hours: Open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. On the web: Millstone Creek Orchards, located about an hour and a half from downtown Fayetteville in Ramseur, is an 84-acre family-run farm that offers pick-your-own blackberries for $25 a bucket, according to its website. Address: 506 Parks Crossroads Church Road, Ramseur Phone: 336-824-5263 Hours: Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. On the web: With strawberry season coming to a close, Barry's Strawberry Farm has transitioned into an honor system, where patrons can pick their own strawberries and leave the money in a box on the fruit stand for their purchase, according to the farm's voicemail. Address: 4047 Cox Mill Road, Sanford Phone: 919-258-3606 Hours: Open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to a May Facebook post. On the web: Search "Barry's Strawberry Farm" on Facebook. The Gillis Hill Road Produce strawberry season ended early this year due to heavy rainfall in April and May, but the farm is launching its first-ever pick-your-own experience for cucumbers, squash and zucchini starting in mid-June, according to owner Jessica Gillis Lee. She said a variety of pre-picked fruits and vegetables are also available at the open-air market. Address: 2899 Gillis Hill Road, Fayetteville Phone: 910-308-9342 Hours: Open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays. On the web: Search "Gillis Hill Road Produce" on Facebook. Carter Blueberry Farm is a family-owned and operated farm that has been in the blueberry business since 1970. The 6-acre farm opens seasonally, with blueberry picking typically beginning in late June or early July, according to its website. Prices are $2 per pound, with a 10% discount for military members and first responders, the website said. Address: 4120 Clinton Road, Fayetteville Phone: 910-308-0063 Hours: For the 2025 season, updated information will be available by mid to late June on the company's website. On the web: Bruce Brothers Farms in Stedman is a family-owned produce farm offering seasonal fruits and vegetables like pick-your-own strawberries for $13 a bucket, with other vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes and spring onions also available. Address: 6267 Blake Road, Stedman Phone: 910-483-5007 Hours: Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sundays. On the web: Search "Bruce Brothers Farms, Inc." on Facebook. Bullard Farms in Stedman offers pick-your-own watermelon and sweet corn, typically from July 1 to Aug. 1, according to owner Collins Bullard. Address: 2280 Stedman Cedar Creek Road, Stedman Phone: 910-303-3795 Hours: Seasonal from July 1 to Aug 1, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reporter Lizmary Evans covers dining, retail, entertainment and culture for The Fayetteville Observer. You can reach her at LEvans@ This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Pick-your-own farms near Fayetteville, Cumberland County
The National
08-05-2025
- General
- The National
UAE pavilion reimagines greenhouses for a hotter, hungrier world at Venice Biennale
At this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, the National Pavilion UAE turns its focus to food security, exploring how architecture can support agriculture in a changing climate. And it all began with a modest box of blueberries. One day, Emirati architect Azza Aboualam brought home groceries and her mother, tasting the blueberries, asked where they were from. To her surprise, they had been grown in the UAE. Blueberries thrive in cool and temperate weather – making their presence in the UAE's arid desert intriguing. 'Where do the desert blueberries come from?' says Aboualam, curator of this year's National Pavilion UAE. 'The question instigated the entire project.' Greenhouses were, of course, the answer – but the discovery prompted Aboualam to rethink how they are built in the UAE and explore the deeper 'back-and-forth relationship between architecture and plants'. Greenhouses date back to ancient Rome, where Emperor Tiberius used simple structures to grow cucumbers year-round. Modern variations emerged in the 17th century, gradually evolving through advances in glassmaking and heating. Today, greenhouses are a central component of agriculture around the world. However, they are still very much a European design, and even the greenhouses found in the UAE have been retrofitted and modified for the local context. In short, the technology was never considered from the ground-up for arid environments. Aboualam sought to revamp the greenhouse specifically for the UAE climate. Working with her team at Holesum Studio – a practice based between Sharjah and New York that she cofounded – she developed a series of modular greenhouse assemblies or 'kits-of-parts'. Each kit contains the essential components to create a greenhouse – roof, wall, floor, tools and materials – designed to adapt to different crops, climates and site conditions. The exhibition, Pressure Cooker, presents several assemblies as examples. It transforms the National Pavilion UAE venue into a controlled-environment agricultural site. The first of the greenhouses has a broken arched roof that facilitates airflow. Basil grows in pots set on rammed-earth platforms, raised just above ankle height to shield them from the ground's heat. Tomato shrubs hang from steel pipes, closer to the arched roof. 'The vertical arch and the way it's broken, it can be fitted with panels that open and close when the seasons shift from extremes,' Aboualam says. 'You can open it up let out heat and hot air, and then in the spring it would do the opposite.' This kind of assembly, Aboualam adds, works best in urban areas closer to the coast, such as Dubai or Sharjah. 'There's a lot of humidity, and this essentially mitigates that by having a lot more air flow,' she says. 'Another aspect of this kit of parts is a fan that is positioned across from an evaporative cooling pad and so this cools the space down without the use of air conditioning.' Blueberry plants are displayed on a rammed-earth platform that, this time, rises to knee height. The display is as much a homage to the fruit that inspired the research for the project as it is an example of how platforms can be used to mitigate the heat of the ground. 'Essentially, it shows how [the platform] could be used as geothermal cooling for the greenhouse itself,' Aboualam says. 'With that assembly, you could essentially combine geothermal cooling and a green shade net which cools down the space significantly.' Then comes an assembly that incorporates a recognisable architectural element from the Gulf, and which has long been used to naturally cool spaces: the barjeel, or wind tower. In the context of the greenhouse, the barjeel is much simpler, featuring angled panels that promote airflow. The structure feeds air towards the tomatoes growing in between corrugated glass fibre panels, which also help keep things cool. The fact they are green is also not a mere aesthetic choice. 'The green shade net and the green fibreglass helps reflect a lot of the harmful rays of the sun that can affect the crops,' Aboualam says. The centre of the exhibition is a gathering space that offers insight into the research behind the project. Maps, illustrations and video elements display the field work and build experimentations that informed the work. 'The gathering table mimics the way the research team always gathered around a table to not just eat, but also work,' Aboualam says. 'This invites visitors to come with us on the journey.' One video highlights the archival research that Aboualam and her team carried out in order to understand the overlap between architecture and food production in UAE history. It shows maps dating back to the turn of the 20th century of palm trees growing along the coast of the Trucial States. An illustration of Dibba Fort shows how its watchtowers were built to protect orange groves in Fujairah. There are blueprints from the UAE National Library and Archives that show the inflated greenhouses in Saadiyat, as well as how evaporative cooling techniques were used to lower their temperatures. A map of the UAE shows the 155 sites that Aboualam and her team visited to document agricultural techniques. A second video shows how the 'kits-of-parts' can be arranged in a program that tests their efficacy in various assemblies and contexts. Walls, floors, shades, roofs and material can be organised in different permutations and shapes, ranging from rectangles and squares to arches, each with a unique set of advantages. 'We took all of the knowledge and all of the kits and then fed them in the digital tool, which was developed by Holesum Studio,' Aboualam says. 'It's a digital tool that uses thermal modelling programs, but also architectural programs. 'You put the kits together in different combinations and then assign a location in the UAE. It draws from airport data to tell you the predicted temperatures, how much electricity and water you need to operate the greenhouse.' The final aspect of Pressure Cooker shows an enclosed storage and office space that has been walled using porous polycarbonate panels. The walls feature vertical channels that can be filled with running water, cooling the space within. A video of greenhouses from across the UAE is projected on to one of the walls, but the structure itself offers ideas into how greenhouses can be used in more domestic contexts. 'Hopefully we can take some of these kits and integrate them within a neighbourhood in the UAE,' Aboualam says. 'It can be in someone's backyard, in a school park or within a compound.' While Pressure Cooker positions these greenhouse kits in a UAE context, the design's potential is not limited to within the country's borders. The project prompts new ways of thinking about food sustainability in the face of rising global temperatures. This is one conversation that Aboualam hopes Pressure Cooker sparks during the biennale, which runs from May 10 to November 23. There is a poetic element in bringing a revamped greenhouse back to the country that is credited with its invention, and Aboualam hopes that the kit further democratises the technology and promote self-sufficiency. One clue to that aim lies in the title of the exhibition itself. 'In a pressure cooker, you essentially put ingredients together and it gives you another outcome. That's how the project was conceived,' Aboualam says. 'The goal is that it's approachable enough so people that don't have that much expertise can build these structures and grow their own food.'
