Although blueberries grow in Asia and Europe, it is the wild highbush American variety a staple of the diet of many American Indians, which was domesticated in the United States at the turn of the century.
According to Native American blueberry is good for health. It was one of the most important foods and medicines for the Indian people in the old days. It helps the woman during childbirth, the tea leaves were good for kidneys and the juice was good for cough.
Native American also dried his leave in sun and ground it into powder and uses it to make pudding and it was used to season the meat. They also added dried or fresh blueberries to soups and stews.
The French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported in the early 1600s that Indians living near what is now called Lake Huron made blueberry pudding.
They mixed powdered, dried berries with water, cornmeal, and wild honey.
The settlers also found that the Indians smoked wild blueberries during winter to preserve them.
The Native American tribes revered blueberries and folklore developed around them. The blossom end of each berry, the calyx, forms the shape of a perfect five-pointed star; the elders of the tribe would tell of how the Great Spirit sent "star berries" to relieve the children's hunger during a famine.
Utilized as a restorative by Indian people for years, blueberry tea was soon relied upon by Colonial women as a tonic during childbirth.
American Indians use of blueberry
