Recent research suggests that antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer by acting as scavengers or neutralizers of free radicals. Antioxidants are molecules with special chemical groups that attract other electrons and stabilize them, preventing uncontrolled oxidation.
Many researchers believe that eating enough antioxidant-rich foods can reduce your risk of disease and even aid in recovery from certain diseases. Since oxidative stress has been linked to nearly every type of cancer, including those of the stomach, colon, breast, skin, mouth and throat, eating lots of berries is definitely a goal.
Blueberries contain one of the most abundant types of antioxidant called anthocyanins. A standard serving size for blueberry compote contains two tablespoons (14 grams) of dried compote powder. One cup (150 grams) of fresh blueberries also roughly three and a half cups (seven ounces) of pureed fruit!
How many cups of blueberries it takes to achieve this amount depends on how you like your food — just make sure to check out whether these recommendations are appropriate for your diet first.
Converting ounces to grams
To measure how many cups of berries you have, simply multiply the amount of berries by 0.33. For example, one cup two percent white chocolate chips is equal to 2 tablespoons!
So if you were having one cup one tablespoon fresh blueberries, that would be 1×0.33 or zero teaspoons of blueberry cream cheese. Or if you had one cup one package (12 oz/340 g) sweet strawberries, it would be 12×0.33 or three medium-sized strawberries!
When baking with sugar as a main ingredient, like cookies or cake, we use a conversion chart to determine what percentage of our recipe contains each type of sugar. You can find these charts here: http://www.mrealsugar.com/sugarcane-charts/.
Remember, when converting between liquid and solid measurements, remember to subtract the original amount from the total!
Your final ratio will depend on whether you are using dry or high moisture berry fruits.
Converting cups to grams
To make the delicious blueberry sauce you need two tablespoons of butter for every three cup-fulls of berries. That is one stick of butter per one cup of blueberries!
To figure out how many grams of fat in your blueberry sauce, just multiply the number of teaspoons by 0.9. One teaspoon has 14 grams so 1 tablespoon equals a total of fourteen grams of fat.
That means one half batch of blueberry sauce contains 4 grams of fat! This amount can be limited or restricted depending on what kind of food you are eating. If you like more sugar then use more berries which will have higher calories but still only enough calories to satisfy your daily goal.
Another way to reduce the amount of fat in this recipe is to use either coconut oil or olive oil instead of melted butter. Both oils are ~500 calories per eight ounces so use equal amounts to get the same taste.
Calculating how many cups of blueberries there are in a pint
In order to know how many cups of berries you will get after baking, we first need to figure out what a cup equals of dry or liquid matter.
A standard cup of water is eight ounces (by volume). An ounce is three tablespoons, so one cup = eight tablespoons total. A tablespoon is two thirds of a fluid ounce, which is defined as sixteen points of measure for a scale that goes up to 1,000!
That means one cup= 2/3 of 16 x 8, or 32 points of measure. One point of measure is one tenth of a teaspoon, or four drops. Eight drops make one whole tablespoon, and two thirds of a tablespoon is one third of a cup.
So, if we multiply our initial number of points in a cup by three, then divide it by two, we have your ratio of dry to liquid matter needed to determine how much fruit you will use per batch.
The amount of dried fruits you use determines how many cups of berries you have, and the amount of liquid you use determined how much thickener you have in your berry mixture.
There are just under 1 cup of blueberries in a pint
We all know that berries are delicious, but what some may not know is how many cups you get per serving! Luckily, it’s easy to determine how many strawberries, raspberries or blueberries you should have per bowlful for yourself or a friend.
We calculated the amount of berries you need to achieve one cup per batch by dividing the volume of a berry by the density of water. The densest berry type – acorn squash – has a density of 0.7 grams per millilitre (ml), while the lightest – grapes – have a density of 0.9 g/ml.
By using these equations, we were able to figure out the ideal ratio of each berry type to create one cup per person.
There are slightly more than 1 cup of blueberries in a pint
Whilst most people know that berries like strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are good for you, there is one berry which many consider to be the king of all berries; the blueberry!
Blueberries have gotten a bad rap due to their name. You see, before companies started importing them from Canada, North America only had two native berries; the cranberry (which we now call American white grape) and the Oregon grape.
But what makes a blueberry special is not just its name, but it’s also how they grow and what they taste like. They must undergo a process called ‘de-pitting’ where the skin is scraped off, leaving just the juicy flesh inside.
There are a little more than 1 cup of blueberries in a pint
Having just one cup of berries is enough to enjoy them while they last, which can be twice a day if you like! That’s why it’s important to know how many cups of berries you should eat per week.
Most people recommend eating 2-3 cups of berries per week. While that seems like a lot, it’s not very difficult to do. You will want to remember this advice for next month when berries season comes back around.
You also don’t have to consume all of your berries at once. Spread out the snacks throughout the day so you don’t overdo it.
There are a lot more than 1 cup of blueberries in a pint
Whilst one cup (150 g) of fresh or dried berries is an adequate start, there are actually much more than that! A standard size glass mug full of hot cocoa contains enough berry flavor to make 2 cups (50 grams per cup)!
That means if you like just how sweet your chocolate drink is then try adding two times the amount of berries for the same taste!
Not only that but half a cup (25 grams) of raspberries equals one whole cup (100 grams)!! That’s why some recipes call for using twice as many raspberries!
But what about strawberries? You get only so many from a given container- so why not double the amount?!
Sadly, this isn’t very practical when it comes to baking because you will be wasting leftover strawberry bits which don’t bake well.
Ways to cook blueberries
While cooking berries can usually be done directly in water or butter, there are some recipes that require more steps. This is particularly true for baking with dried fruits like cranberry sauce or using them as an ingredient in other dishes.
If you just want to quickly poach the berries and then drain and refrigerate them, doing it this way is fine. But if you wanted to do anything else with them afterwards, boiling their liquid first will make that impossible.
