How much anthocyanin can be extracted from a blueberry?
Everyone is asking this question today as we are learning more and more about the benefits of the blue pigment in the blueberry. But, the answer is not all that clear cut. You see, there are different levels of anthocyanin in different cultivars of blueberries. There is a misconception that the Wild or lowbush blueberry contains more than the highbush. This is not true. Some highbush blueberries have very high levels of anthocyanin and some less. The same is in the lowbush. The “gold standard” of the anthocyanin levels is the European Blueberry, which is blue on the inside also. Here is a good rule for this determination made on totally unscientific calculations. Based on published research, highbush blueberries contain approximately 125mg/100 g. Therefore, a method which is very efficient could yield no more than 0.12% of the fresh weight of the blueberry. It is very unlikely that there could be 100% efficiency, therefore would expect yields more likely between 0.05 and 0.1%. Our sugg
