In some cases, bakers only add enough fruit to claim the product includes mangosteen or noni, etc. When consumers see that ingredient listed on the product, they associate it with health, notes Bill Graham, vice president and general manager, flavor division, Frutarom USA Inc., North Bergen, N.J. But, if very low levels of the fruit are included, it might not add much of a healthful benefit.

Using flavors is obviously the most economical way to add superfruits to baked products, but to claim a natural açai flavor, bakers will need to add part of the fruit itself, Graham notes.

Superfruits will experience some degradation of their nutritional profile during the baking process, but how much depends on a variety of factors, from the formulation to the time and temperature used for baking to the manner in which the superfruit is added to the formula. “Whole fruit is going to act differently than a powder that has already been through some temperature holding,” Miller says. But, while the nutritional value may be reduced, it does still exist even after a long temperature exposure.

Many options are available for adding superfruit flavor and fruit identity to baked products, and it all depends on a bakers specific needs. Freeze dried or spray dried juice powders can be used in addition to real fruit in some instances to allow bakers to blend the amount of fruit identity and functionality in a product. When it comes to adding fruit identity, IQF frozen, infused arils and real fruit all are viable options.

In the instance of wild blueberries, “some bakers will incorporate dried wild blueberries as IQF to reduce the issue of color migration. Others think the weeping is a positive issue,” says Tom Rush, director of sales, Maine Wild Blueberry Co., Machias, Maine. “Sugar-infused wild blueberries are preferred where the end product is manufactured from a stiffer batter or mix. Bagels, scones and fritters are good examples.”

The superfruit bakers use can dictate the way it is added. “Açai has about 8 percent meat on the outside of the berry and 92 percent is the seed, so if you think of an avocado with a really big seed, that is similar to how an açai berry is. There is no easy way to deliver that with fruit identity in baking applications,” Miller says. Açai is usually added as a pulp, a puree or a powder. Mangosteen also is added as a puree and goji as a puree or freeze dried powder, although goji berries themselves can be used in baking applications, Miller adds.

Combining flavor and fruit identity might be the most cost effective way to obtain label claims on packaging. “We have a granola bar customer who uses pomegranate products and they have certain price point parameters, so we work with a hybrid of both fruit identity and powder to achieve the functional claim and also manage the price. If we were to use just one ingredient and not the other it would be difficult to meet their targets in terms of fruit identity, fruit taste and budget,” Miller notes.

Benefits of blueberries

For product developers, 2009 could be the Year of the Blueberry because abundant supplies ensure availability and great value, according to the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, San Mateo, Calif. Consumers are well acquainted with the healthful benefits of blueberries, and last year more than 1,300 blueberry containing products entered the market, the Highbush Council reports.

Research links blueberries to brain health, cancer prevention, heart health, urinary tract health and improved night vision, according to Maine Wild Blueberry Co., Machias, Maine.

The book Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life-Superfoods RX, by Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, refers to blueberries as “brainberries.” In animal studies, researchers have found blueberries help protect the brain from oxidative stress and may reduce the effects of age-related conditions.

A study by Jim Joseph, a neuroscientist with the USDA, Boston, found when mice that had been genetically altered to have Alzheimer's were placed on a blueberry diet, they did not experience memory loss.

In a study done by a Cornell University research team led by Dr. Rui Hai Liu, blueberries performed better than selected fruits when it came to a cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay, a way of measuring antioxidant activity inside cells, Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemisty, 2007; 55 (22) 8896-8907.

When choosing blueberries, bakers have the option of cultivated or wild blueberries. Both are available in a variety of forms, including IQF frozen, which are accessible year round.

Popular superfruits

Açai - Small, dark purple fruit of the açai palm of South America

Elderberry - black to grayish-blue berries found in the warmer parts of Europe and North America

Goji - Orange-red fruit of Lycium barbarum, cultivated in China

Wolfberry - the common name for the fruit commercially known asgoji berry

Guavasteen - lime-green, egg-shaped fruit with a soft flesh similar in texture to a pear. The waxy skin is dull blue-green to blue or grayish green, sometimes with a red or orange blush. Native to southern Brazil, northern Argentina, western Paraguay and Uruguay. Crops now are available from California, New Zealand and Australia.

Mangosteen - 2-in. to 3-in. tropical fruit with juicy flesh suggestive of both peaches and pineapples

Yumberry - sweet, crimson to dark purple-red fruit native to eastern Asia, mainly China. Also known as yamamomo to the Japanese, which means mountain peach.

Yuzu - a citrus fruit originating in East Asia, believed to be a hybrid of the Ichang papeda (a species of the genus Citrus with lemon-scented foliage and flowers). It resembles a small grapefruit with uneven yellow or green skin depending on ripeness. Yuzu typically are 5.5 cm to 7.5 cm, but can be as large as 10 cm.