Berry Nice!
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
John Keats 1819
Golden autumnal mornings, with their crisp hint of frost in the air, have transported Kaptain Kombucha into poetic mode. As the Earth prepares for sleep, now is the time to harvest her abundant riches. Yippeeee!!! Free food!! And even better, it's fresh, local, organic and devoid of toxic pesticides. The hedgerows are glistening with juicy, indigo blackberries ripe for the picking, and Nature's larder comes packed with the goodness our bodies need.
Traditionally autumn was the time when people fattened up to help them cope with lean times ahead. No self-respecting cave man or woman would want to start winter as a skinny size eight! Without a healthy covering of fat, survival through to spring would be unlikely and, assuming they did make it through, they'd hardly even be a light snack for a passing Tyrannosaurus!
The cold wintery months, long dark nights and diminished food supplies meant that piling on the pounds gave you something to fall back on when the going got tough. And what better way to prepare for winter than guzzling on a glut of delicious berries, as the fructose in fruits readily converts to fat in our bodies.
Whilst our distant ancestors had only a brief window of opportunity in which to gorge on fruits, our modern lifestyle makes them available all year round raising the potential to get too much of a good thing. Excessive consumption of fructose can lead to obesity and other health problems.
However, the great news about blackberries is that they are one of the lower fructose fruits, so we can enjoy all their health benefits without the disadvantage of overloading our bodies with fructose. Blackberries are an excellent source of vitamin C, a potent antioxidant and immune booster. Their dark pigmentation comes from anthocyanin, another antioxidant that can reduce inflammation. They are relatively high in vitamin K, aiding blood clotting and bone health, a good source of fibre and tannin, both of which help digestion, and also contain numerous trace elements and nutrients.
So much goodness packed into a bite-sized, juicy morsel! Pick some today, then relax with a blackberry snack and Wild Berry kombucha.
You could almost call it a free lunch!