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Discover the Juicy Secrets: Top 14 Fun Facts About Blackberries You Never Knew!

illustration of blackberries
Get ready to be berry-amazed as you delve into the wonderful world of blackberries and uncover some scrumptiously surprising fun facts!

1. Ancient Medicine Berries

Before berry-flavored cough syrup was even a twinkle in a pharmacist's eye and gout was a lifestyle problem only hobbits had to deal with: blackberries, in fact, have been used medicinally since ancient times, with both Greeks and Native Americans utilizing their impressive healing properties for various health woes.
Source => blog.gardeningknowhow.com

2. Bear Burglar Fruits

In the great blackberry heist, beloved bear burglars seeking a fruity feast often rendezvous in the bushes: blackberries serve as a valuable food source for black bears, and their leaves and shoots have been used to treat ailments like mouth sores and diarrhea for centuries, whilst their polyphenol antioxidants make them a healthful snack for humans too.
Source => plantgrower.org

3. Rebellious Berry Teens

Blackberries, the rebellious teenagers of the berry world who refuse to fit the botanic mold: Despite not being "true" berries according to botanical norms, blackberries are still classified as berries. Their distinctive shape and texture come from drupelets, which are essentially separate ovaries from a single flower – making these juicy fruits part of the cool aggregate fruit crew.
Source => flipscience.ph

4. OG Multivitamin Berries

Who knew blackberries were the OG multivitamins, showing those fancy store-bought pills how it's done: These tiny, juicy superheroes carry a massive punch of anthocyanins, flavonols, phenolic acids, ellagic acid, vitamins C and E, and β-sitosterol, giving them antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and chemopreventative properties that could put health fads to shame.
Source => sciencedirect.com

Secret Fruit Club Members

5. Secret Fruit Club Members

Rumor has it that blackberries attend a secret Fruit Club, where they reveal their true identity and laugh at our misconceptions: Blackberries are not actually true berries at all, but rather aggregate fruits composed of many tiny drupelets, all while belonging to the prickly rose family's Bramble Club, which also includes raspberries and dewberries.
Source => etymonline.com

6. QWERTY Blackberry Pioneers

Before iPhones and Androids had their virtual keyboard quarrels, BlackBerry was busy pioneering the QWERTY quest: The groundbreaking BlackBerry 6210, introduced in 2003, was one of the first smartphones to seamlessly integrate phone and email capabilities, complete with a physical keyboard and a nifty side thumbwheel for navigation, ultimately becoming the catalyst for the advanced smartphone technology gracing our screens today.
Source => pocket-lint.com

7. Nature's Mary Poppins

Blackberries aren't just nature's candy – they might just give Mary Poppins a run for her money with their ability to treat practically everything, except they won't help you lift cars or give you magical nanny skills: For centuries, these delicious berries have been hailed as a natural remedy to treat issues such as diarrhea, dysentery, ulcers, burns, and scalds, while also serving as a tasty component for wines and vinegars.
Source => botanical.com

8. Animal Kingdom Roller Coasters

Who knew nature had its own private amusement park for its furrier and feathered residents? It turns out blackberries are like the roller coasters of the animal kingdom, attracting all kinds of thrill-seeking critters and providing cover from would-be party crashers: The blackberry plant not only serves as a delicious midsummer treat for wildlife such as deer, turkeys, rabbits, quail, raccoons, opossums, and coyotes, but also offers a thorny refuge to escape predators. These fruity wonders even rank in the top three native plant-sourced foods for Alabama's wildlife, alongside crowd favorites like oak and pine trees.
Source => greatdaysoutdoors.com

9. Rain-Loving Californians

Who needs a waterboy when you've got a berry that needs no assistance from H2O? That's the California blackberry for you, folks: adept at surviving just on rainfall, it cozily hibernates through winter, waking up refreshed and ready to party by simply counting on fall and winter rains – no pager needed.
Source => picturethisai.com

Berry Talent Show Gems

10. Berry Talent Show Gems

If blackberries held a talent show, they'd certainly sweep the floor with their juicy skills and a rendition of Berry Gordy's greatest hits: These surprisingly healthful gems are absolutely bursting with antioxidants, vitamin C, and fiber, leading the fruity charge in the battle against heart disease, cancer, and digestive troubles. In fact, a snazzy study featured in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry revealed that blackberries pack one of the most powerful antioxidant punches in the fruit kingdom – so go ahead, enjoy a handful of these sweet, nutritious performers and savor the tasty ovation your body will surely give!
Source => oxfordreference.com

11. Berry-Seasoned Bread Hug

Did you know that Summer Pudding is the original "Berry-seasoned, juice-sodden bread hug"? Abounding with flavors to make even the royals of Britain blush: this traditional dessert lovingly sandwiches blackberries and their fruity friends - raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries - between layers of bread, which hungrily absorb the merry juices. After a frosty courtship with refrigeration and a rendezvous with whipped cream, prepare to court and bedazzle your taste buds with this delightful British treat!
Source => culinaryginger.com

12. Olympic Health Boosters

If blackberries were ever to enter the Olympics, they'd surely win a gold medal in the Boost-Your-Health category, hands down, berries up: Devouring a cupful of these juicy gems delivers nearly half the daily recommended value of manganese, responsible for strengthening bones, upgrading immune systems, and efficiently metabolizing carbs and amino acids – not to mention turning you into a collagen-forming, wound-healing superhero!
Source => healthline.com

13. Mega Family Reunions

When blackberries stroll into a family reunion, they don't have to rent a hall - they fill a stadium: Blackberries belong to the Rubus genus, which boasts over 1,350 species of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, and includes appetizing cousins like raspberries, dewberries, and the lesser-known bristleberries found mainly in North America.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

14. Cholesterol Busters

Behold the berry: harbinger of health, juicer of joy, and defender of dyslipidemics! When these tiny, pigment-packed soldiers arm themselves with anthocyanins, it's time for bad cholesterol to run for the hills: Research reveals that drinking blackberry juice loaded with pulp can up your apo A-I and HDL levels, while lowering your apo B and hs-CRP, thereby guarding lipid disorder-plagued hearts like a tasty plate armor.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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