Vaccinium corymbosum L. - Ericaceae - American blueberry, highbush blueberry, blue huckleberry, **Amerikanische Heidelbeere**

Deciduous shrub, gup to 3m tall, native to eastern North America, cultivated and naturalized elsewhere; leaves alternate, up to 5cm long, elliptical, dark glossy green, turning brilliant yellow-orange to red-violet in autumn; flowers in dense clusters, corolla white; fruit a globose berry, up to 1.5cm in diameter, blueish-black, sweet and showy.

"These berries were collected and used in Native American cuisine in areas where V.corymbosum grew as a native plant. This plant is also the most common commercially grown blueberry in present day North America. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant for home and wildlife gardens and natural landscaping projects." \\
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinium_corymbosum]]

„The volatile components of bilberry, bog blueberry and cultivated high-bush blueberry (cv. Rancocas) were analysed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Several new compounds not reported previously as blueberry volatiles were detected. These included methyl and ethyl 2-hydroxy-3-methylbutanoate, methyl and ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-methylbutanoate, 2-phenylethyl formate, methyl salicylate, farnesol, farnesyl acetate, vanillin, myristicine, 4-vinylphenol, 2-methoxy-5-vinylphenol, citronellol, hydroxycitronellol and some γ- and δ-lactones. The character impact compounds of bilberry were found to be the above-mentioned hydroxy esters together with 2-phenylethanol and its esters and the γ- and δ-lactones, whereas myristicine, citronellol, hydroxycitronellol, farnesol and farnesyl acetate were typical of the aroma of high-bush blueberry.“ \\
[The aroma of blueberries., Hirvi, T., Honkanen, E., Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Vol.34(9), 1983, 992-996] 

Of the 42 odor-active compounds detected by applying AEDA on the liquid ectract of highbush blueberry, highest FD (range 2-512) factors showed ethyl 2-methyl butyrate (green, slightly apple-like), hexanal (fatty green, grassy), isothiazole (skunk, sulfury), octanal (orange, fatty), octen-3-one (mushroom), (E,E)-2,4-heptadienal (fatty, green, greasy), and (E,E)-2,4-decadienal (deep fatty, slightly citrus-note).
Other contributors to the aroma of highbush blueberry fruit were esters (ethyl acetate, methyl butyrate, ethyl isobutyrate, ethyl isobutyrate, methyl isovalerate, allyl butyrate, ethyl isovalerate), alcohols (isoamyl alcohol, octanol, decanol), linalool oxide, sulfur compounds like dimethyl sulfide, thiazole, isothiazole, dodecyl mercaptan, o-methylthiophenol, 1-p-menthene-8-thiol (fresh, juicy tropical). Odor active compounds with characteristic floral or tea-like notes were damascenone, β-damascone and phenylethanol. \\
[Hanoglu A., Pucarelli F. „Recent Highlights in Flavor Chemistry & Biology. 8th. Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie; Garching, Germany: 2007. Determination of key aroma-active compounds by GC-O Aroma Extract Dilution Analysis (AEDA) in cranberry and blueberry fruits“ Proceedings of the 8th Wartburg Symposium on Flavor Chemistry and Biology, Eisenach, Germany. 2007, 269-275] 

"The aroma components of highbush blueberry were analyzed using early, middle, later cultivars by static headspace and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results showed that the main volatile compounds were alcohols, esters, and terpenes for highbush blueberry. The sixty-seven kinds of volatile components were detected and there were distinct differences between the cultivars, in which 16 kinds, 17 kinds, 27 kinds, 13 kinds, 26 kinds, 25 kinds were detected in Duke, Bluejay, Bluecrop, Jersey, Elliot, Darrow, respectively. The character impact components (CICs) of Duke were ethyl butanoate, damascenone, ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, D-limonene, and 2-butanone. The CICs of Bluejar were ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, ethyl butanoate, and butyl acetate. The CICs of Bluecrop were ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, (E)-3-Hexenyl acetate, β-linalool, ethyl butanoate, hexyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenal, and (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol. The CICs of Jersey were ionone, ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, ethyl butanoate. The CICs of Elliot were hexyl acetate, β-linalool, D-limonene, hexanal. The CICs of Darrow were ethyl butanoate, hexyl acetate, D-limonene, and β-linalool. The unique flavor of highbush blueberry cultivars was formed because of interaction between these CICs." \\
[GC/MS analysis of volatile components in highbush blueberry cultivars., ChunYu, Z., YaDong, L., XueSen, C., ZhiDong, Z., HaiGuang, L., Lin, W., Acta Horticulturae Sinica, Vol.36(2), 2009, 187-194]

{{vaccinium_corymbosum.jpg?600}} \\
Sharp, Helen, Water-color sketches of American plants, especially New England, (1888-1910) [Helen Sharp] \\
[[http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=1048049]]

{{vacc_corymnl.jpg?600}} \\
Vaccinium corymbosum fruits, [[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nl/|CC BY-SA 3.0]], Author: Klaas Dijkstra \\
[[https://wilde-planten.nl/trosbosbes.htm]]