Surprising blueberry pairings

Popular in cereals and muffins, blueberries have a delicately sweet, fruity flavor. Consumed raw, their particularly high antioxidant properties and other health benefits make them perfect for breakfast, as a go-to snack or in any other type of tasty blueberry pairings.

Aroma analysis: fresh blueberries

At Foodpairing®, we begin each of our studies of various ingredients with a thorough aroma analysis. This information enables us to determine best matches of fresh blueberries based on their aromatic profiles and the principle that ingredients that share key scents pair well with one another. Read more on the science behind Foodpairing®.

The findings of our molecular analysis of fresh blueberries is visualized in this easy-to-understand aroma wheel. As you can see below, the different aroma molecules have been broken down and sorted by category and labeled using more general, familiar ‘aromatic descriptors’ like fruity (peach), spicy (vanilla), floral (rose) and citrus.

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Blueberries and their aromatic pairings

The four main categories of aromas present in blueberries provide us with links to many other types of ingredients. For example, their fruity peach notes are similar to what we find in butter and cheese, therefore pairing well with bourbon and whiskey, passionfruit, peach and apricot, tomatoes, celery, artichoke, butternut squash and even meal worms.

“While our analysis didn’t find many fish pairings for blueberries, we did find that they pair especially well with gray shrimp and crabs.”

The spicy vanilla notes in blueberries also stand up to bold-flavored ingredients such as coffee, chocolate and toasted bread, while their floral rose-like scents pair beautifully with lychee, apple, raspberry, tomato and beets. These versatile, little berries also contain a distinct citrus scent, which provides a natural link to oranges, Aclla® cress, lemongrass, cilantro, laurel, huacatay and certain gins.

Our Foodpairing® analysis reveals other secondary aromas, for example, the herbal notes of a blueberry’s peel. If you refer to the diagram above, you’ll see that blueberries also have a certain malty scent, which pairs well with cherries, almonds, apples, apricots, blackberries, bananas, lychees, avocados and elderflower.

Ingredient pairings for blueberries

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blueberry – ajo blanco – celeriac – langoustines

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blueberry – duck – celeriac – black garlic jus

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blueberry – cardamom – coconut cream – lemongrass

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blueberry – parsnip – cardamom – rosemary

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