Blueberry belongs to the Ericaceae family. The fruit is blue in color, hence the name blueberry. Mature blueberry fruit is dark blue and spherical in shape with a particular sweet and sour taste. During the natural ripening process, fresh fruits have a very short shelf life due to their sensitivity to fungal attack and excessive texture softening.
Blueberry jam is a popular food with intermediate moisture which is prepared by boiling blueberry pulp, sugar, pectin and acid. The jam is usually used as fillings and toppings in bread and cake production. This requires great heat resistance of blueberry jam during the baking process of these bakery products, in order to prevent the serious deterioration on the quality of the jam. This is highly dependent on the ingredients of the jam, such as the thickener. Additionally, the quality of the blueberry jam during baking is also decided by the baking temperature and time.