Name: 藍莓 | 它是如何生長的？ (BLUEBERRY | How Does it Grow?)
Uploaded: 2024-07-23T11:30:34.000Z
Duration: 10 min 48 s

If I could nominate one fruit to be the national fruit of the United States, it would be the blueberry.

如果我能提名一種水果作為美國的國果，那一定是藍莓。

Americans, we fiercely guard our independence.

美國人，我們堅決捍衛自己的獨立。

Let's go with that, because that, my friends, is also the spirit of the blueberry. Even though it's native to North America, even though it's been growing here for thousands of years, it remained totally untamed until very recently.

朋友們，這也正是藍莓的精神所在。儘管藍莓原產於北美洲，儘管它已經在這裡生長了數千年，但直到最近，它仍然完全沒有被馴服。

You know, my grandmother never even saw a blueberry as a young woman, and she ran a fruit stand in Brooklyn.

要知道，我的祖母年輕時連藍莓都沒見過，她在布魯克林經營著一個水果攤。

It wasn't until the early 1940s that farmed blueberries really took off nationwide.

直到 20 世紀 40 年代初，藍莓種植才真正在全國範圍內興起。

Before that, if you wanted blueberries, you had to find and pick them in the wild. So why was it so hard to farm the blueberry?

在此之前，如果你想吃藍莓，就必須到野外去尋找和採摘。那麼，為什麼種植藍莓如此困難呢？

To understand that, we have to find out, blueberry, how does it grow?

要了解這一點，我們必須弄清楚，藍莓是如何生長的？

Our investigation starts in the storied Pine Barrens of New Jersey, whose official state fruit is the blueberry.

我們的調查從新澤西州歷史悠久的松樹林開始，新澤西州的官方水果是藍莓。

This is Whitesbog Village, the birthplace of the global blueberry business.

這裡是懷特斯博格村，全球藍莓事業的發源地。

Today, it's a National Historic Site and home to a big annual blueberry festival.

如今，這裡已成為國家歷史遺址，每年還舉辦盛大的藍莓節。

A century ago, it was the first place anywhere to commercially farm the highbush blueberry. Wait, wait, wait, wait, stop the music.

一個世紀前，這裡是第一個商業化種植高叢藍莓的地方。等等，等等，等等，停止音樂。

To fully appreciate the blueberry's place in American culture, we have to go back to the huge role it played in the lives of our native people.

要想充分了解藍莓在美國文化中的地位，我們必須追溯到藍莓在當地人生活中發揮的巨大作用。

For them, the blueberry was food, it was medicine, it was a spiritual symbol.

對他們來說，藍莓是食物，是藥物，是精神象徵。

In fact, they called them starberries, for their perfect five-pointed star at the blossom end.

事實上，人們稱它們為楊桃，因為它們的花端有一顆完美的五角星。

They were a gift from the Great Spirit. From roots to leaves, indigenous people used every part of the blueberry bush.

它們是大神賜予的禮物。從根到葉，原住民使用藍莓灌木的每一部分。

They brewed a tea for women in childbirth.

They boiled the blueberries down into a thick cough syrup.

他們把藍莓熬成了濃稠的止咳糖漿。

They also dried them so they could be eaten through the long, lean winter months.

他們還把它們晒乾，以便在漫長而寒冷的冬季食用。

The waves of European immigrants who came to this country embraced this new fruit, but none of them as deeply as the Native American peoples. It wasn't until 1911 that blueberries got serious attention again, this time from the daughter of a cranberry farmer.

一波又一波的歐洲移民來到這個國家，接受了這種新的水果，但他們都沒有像美洲原住民那樣深深地愛上它。直到 1911 年，藍莓才再次受到重視，這次是一位蔓越莓農場主的女兒。

She lived right here at Whitesbog, then New Jersey's largest cranberry farm.

她就住在懷特斯博格，當時這裡是新澤西州最大的蔓越莓農場。

Elizabeth Coleman White, a heroine in the male-dominated stories of American agriculture.

伊麗莎白-科爾曼-懷特（Elizabeth Coleman White）是美國農業男性主導故事中的女英雄。

She had the vision to expand her father's cranberry operation to include blueberries in the summer.

她有遠見卓識，將父親的蔓越莓經營擴大到夏季種植藍莓。

And so she invited Frederick Covel, a botanist who had just made a groundbreaking blueberry discovery. Previously, people had dug up wild blueberry bushes and replanted them in their best soil.

於是，她邀請了弗雷德裡克-科威爾（Frederick Covel），他是一位植物學家，剛剛對藍莓有了突破性的發現。以前，人們挖出野生藍莓灌木叢，然後把它們重新種植在最好的土壤裡。

They nurtured them like they would any other fruit crop, only to watch them die.

他們像培育其他水果作物一樣培育它們，卻只能眼睜睜地看著它們死去。

Covel figured out a strange but fundamental secret.

科威爾發現了一個奇怪而又基本的祕密。

Blueberries demand highly acidic soil, soil that can't support most other crops.

藍莓需要高酸性的土壤，這種土壤無法種植大多數其他作物。

And Jersey's barren pinelands were perfect for blueberries.

澤西島貧瘠的針葉林非常適合種植藍莓。

But farming is all about growing a consistent crop.

但農業的關鍵在於種植穩定的作物。

So White and Covel set out to find the best of the wild blueberries that they could then and eventually crossbreed. I should probably note here that there's not just one kind of blueberry.

於是懷特和科威爾開始尋找最好的野生藍莓，並最終進行雜交。我也許應該在此指出，藍莓並非只有一種。

Just like there are many kinds of apples, there are blueberries with different colors, sizes, tastes, and textures.

就像蘋果有很多種一樣，藍莓也有不同的顏色、大小、口味和質地。

White enlisted locals to search the woods for large berries.

懷特招募當地人在樹林裡尋找大漿果。

She named each plant they chose to cultivate after the person who found it.

她用發現者的名字為他們選擇栽培的每一種植物命名。

Now to grow a whole field of rubles, White and Covel used the same cloning technique that's used today.

現在，為了種植一整片盧布，懷特和科威爾使用了與今天相同的克隆技術。

For that, we're heading to Atlantic Blueberry Company.

為此，我們將前往大西洋藍莓公司。

Once the world's largest blueberry farm, it's still the largest in New Jersey. The U.S., by the way, is the worldwide leader in cultivated blueberries, while Canada is tops for wild ones.

它曾經是世界上最大的藍莓農場，現在仍然是新澤西州最大的藍莓農場。順便提一下，美國是全球栽培藍莓的領導者，而加拿大則是野生藍莓的佼佼者。

Wild berries grow on low bushes found wild, then fertilized and cared for like farmed ones.

野生漿果生長在野外的低矮灌木叢中，然後像人工種植的漿果一樣施肥和照料。

But we're following the story of the cultivated highbush, which provides the lion's share of the world's fresh blueberries.

但是，我們正在關注的是高叢藍莓的故事，它提供了世界上大部分的新鮮藍莓。

The life of a blueberry bush begins in the nursery.

Small cuttings from a chosen variety are planted and nurtured until they're strong enough to be transferred to the field.

從選定的品種中扦插小苗，並進行培育，直到它們足夠強壯，可以移栽到田地裡。

A modest harvest can take five years, but a bush bears fruit for up to 50. Blueberries are born in the spring, after the bushes bloom with bell-shaped flowers.

適度收穫可能需要五年時間，但一叢藍莓可結果長達 50 年。藍莓在春季灌木叢盛開鈴鐺狀花朵後誕生。

You can see that star shape at the tips of their petals.

你可以看到花瓣頂端的星星形狀。

When the berries emerge, they're the lightest of green.

Then they deepen into reddish pink, and finally into their famous dusty blue.

然後，它們的顏色逐漸加深，變成紅粉色，最後變成著名的灰藍色。

To extend the season, most farms grow at least three different blueberries, ones that ripen early, mid-season, and late.

為了延長種植季節，大多數農場至少種植三種不同的藍莓，即早熟、季中和晚熟藍莓。

So if you think your blueberries taste different throughout the summer, you're right.

是以，如果您覺得藍莓在整個夏天的味道都不一樣，那就對了。

They're not all the same variety. But there's an even deeper secret here.

它們並不都是同一個品種。但這裡還有一個更深的祕密。

The best blueberries, ones with flavor that would knock your socks off, they're not sold in stores.

最好的藍莓，味道會讓你大吃一驚，但商店裡沒有賣。

The big farms don't grow them, they're too risky.

The berries are too delicate, or the bushes too sensitive.

But you might find these tasty ones at farmers markets.

不過，你可能會在農貿市場找到這些美味。

They're also available in seed catalogs, so you can grow your own.

種子目錄中也有，您可以自己種植。

That means you can pop these little powerhouses of vitamin C and A, plus antioxidants, whenever you like. When it's time to harvest, blueberries don't make it easy.

這意味著您可以隨時吃到這些富含維生素 C 和 A 以及抗氧化劑的小傢伙。到了收穫的季節，藍莓的收穫並不容易。

They don't all ripen at the same time on the bush.

它們並不是同時在灌木叢中成熟的。

So pickers need to harvest with as much care as they do speed, taking only the ripest of berries.

是以，採摘者需要像加快速度一樣小心採摘，只採摘最成熟的漿果。

And it's a gentle, I'm watching, a gentle roll of the thumb that gets these off.

輕輕地，我看著呢，拇指輕輕一卷，就能把它們弄下來。

So these guys have to have the lightest of hand.

所以，這些人的手必須是最輕的。

This sort of frosted color of the blueberry is a protective coating.

藍莓的這種磨砂色是一種保護層。

And if you touch them too much, they turn really dark like that, which means that the coating is off.

如果你摸得太多，它們就會像這樣變黑，這意味著塗層脫落了。

And it means that the shelf life of these berries is cut by two or three days. I really don't call them pickers.

這意味著這些漿果的保質期會縮短兩三天。我真的不稱他們為採摘者。

There's this idea that anybody can come out here and they're going to come up with a great quality berry.

有一種觀點認為，任何人來到這裡都能生產出優質漿果。

No, you don't want to see inside my bucket.

不，你不會想看我桶裡的東西。

I am not getting the hang of this. At Atlantic, berries sold fresh are harvested by hand.

我還沒弄明白。在大西洋，出售的新鮮漿果都是手工採摘的。

But usually after two pickings, machines do a final sweep, shaking the bushes to release the remaining berries.

但通常在採摘兩次後，機器會進行最後一次清掃，搖動灌木叢，讓剩餘的漿果釋放出來。

Since they may suffer a few knocks, they go straight to the freezer to be sold as frozen berries.

由於它們可能會受到一些撞擊，是以會被直接放入冷凍室，作為冷凍漿果出售。

Meanwhile, hand-picked berries hit the sorting line.

與此同時，手工採摘的漿果進入分揀線。

A color scanner weeds out underripe berries, anything that isn't blue.

顏色掃描儀能剔除未成熟的漿果和任何非藍色的東西。

These may go into juice, purees, even pet food.

它們可以製成果汁、果泥，甚至寵物食品。

The berries then drop onto a pressure plate.

然後，漿果就會落到壓力板上。

Softer, overripe berries move slower than firm ones, so they're ejected from the line and often wind up as frozen. Thanks to the pioneering work done right here in New Jersey a century ago, blueberries are now farmed all over the world, from New Zealand to the Netherlands.

較軟、過熟的漿果比結實的漿果移動速度慢，是以它們會被擠出生產線，通常會被冷凍起來。得益於一個世紀前新澤西州的開創性工作，現在藍莓的種植已遍佈世界各地，從紐西蘭到荷蘭。

And the antioxidant craze has helped global production triple in the last decade alone.

僅在過去十年中，抗氧化劑的熱潮就使全球產量增加了兩倍。

That's a huge accomplishment for a wild little American berry.

對於一種野生的美國小漿果來說，這是一項巨大的成就。

After all, the Native Americans believed that blueberry was a divine gift.

畢竟，美洲原住民相信藍莓是上天賜予的禮物。

And so did one of our most American of authors.

我們的一位美國作家也是如此。

When I see as now, in climbing one of our hills, huckleberry and blueberry bushes, bent to the ground with fruit, I think of them as fruits fit to grow on the most Olympian or heaven-pointing hills.

當我像現在這樣爬上我們的一座小山時，看到滿樹的胡克莓和藍莓果實壓彎了腰，我就會想到它們是最適合生長在奧林匹亞山或天堂般的山上的果實。

It does not occur to you at first that where such thoughts are suggested is Mount Olympus, and that you who taste these berries are a god.

你們起初並沒有想到，產生這種想法的地方就是奧林匹斯山，而品嚐這些漿果的人就是神。

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藍莓 | 它是如何生長的？ (BLUEBERRY | How Does it Grow?)

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