Where do blueberries come from?

If a small berry is a popular snack with young and old and has conquered almost the entire world, it must really be something very special. Fortunately, we can find this vitamin-packed miracle in almost every supermarket. But where do blueberries actually come from and where do they grow now?

Blueberries (Vaccinium) originally come from North America, where they are still extremely popular in pancakes, muesli and many other dishes. From around 1909, bigger fruits and bushes were cultivated in North America to make harvesting easier. Up until then, picking blueberries had been an extremely arduous task. The idea of cultivating wild blueberry bushes was hit upon.

These are now known as cultivated blueberries, which have a brightly coloured flesh and a blue skin. This cultivated form is considerably bigger and also sweeter than the wild blueberry species, which is native to Europe and whose flesh is a dark blue colour. The cultivated blueberry is therefore only very distantly related to the native European blueberry.

But where do blueberries come from today? The Dole blueberries come from the USA, Chile, Spain, Italy, Argentina and Uruguay. So berry fans can enjoy this juicy pleasure the whole year round.

Learn and snack!

Your Dole Team