A blueberry is a small, round fruit with dark blue skin and soft, sweet flesh inside. Each berry is about the size of a marble and grows on low bushes in clusters. When you bite into a fresh blueberry, it bursts with juice that's both sweet and slightly tart.

Blueberries are native to North America, where they've grown wild for thousands of years. Native Americans ate them fresh, dried them for winter, and used them in cooking. Early European settlers learned to cultivate them, and today blueberry farms exist across the continent.

The berries ripen in summer, starting out green, then turning reddish-purple, and finally deep blue when they're ready to pick. Fresh blueberries are popular in pancakes, muffins, and pies, or eaten by the handful as a snack. They're also sold frozen, which preserves them for use year-round.

People often call blueberries a “superfood” because they're packed with vitamins and antioxidants. The word blueberry can also describe the color of something that's deep purplish-blue, like blueberry-colored curtains.