What are Superfoods and what makes them so special?

The short answer is that all foods do not have the same nutritional value. Foods also vary greatly in their ability to delay the onset of premature aging; their anti-cancer properties, and their beneficial cardiovascular effects; to name only a few of the most important medicinal qualities of a Superfood. Superfoods, like the magical Goji berry, have been considered exceptional for their medicinal and ant-aging properties for thousands of years, while the nutritional value of the common beet, and their greens, have only been recognized and studied recently. In any case, we all would lead longer and healthier lives if we understood the pros and cons of the various foods we consume on a daily basis and varied our diets accordingly. The primary purpose of my next book (Superfoods) is to bring some of the most important benefits of these special foods to the attention of the reader so that they may profit from the recent advances in food science. Recent innovations in the way we evaluate the nutritional value of foods have greatly simplified this task. For example, the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity of a food measures its ability to protect our bodies from the free radicals that harm normal cells; enhance the effects of premature aging; and increase the risk of developing cancer. The ORAC value of the foods we eat vary from the low hundreds to 314,446 (for cloves). Obviously, knowing the ORAC of the foods we consume can make it possible to live longer, and more importantly, healthier lives. There also are simpler rules we can follow to evaluate the foods we eat. In this respect, the colors of the foods we consume are indicative of their nutritional value. As a general rule of thumb, the darker a food's color the more healthy it will be. For example, the ORAC value of black currants is 7957, while that of red currants is only 3387. Vivid reds and purples in leafy greens like chard and beet greens also suggest that they will be more nutritious than their plain green counterparts. Although this book is not designed to provide instruction on the techniques for growing fruits and vegetables, it does provide some practical guide lines for growing the Superfoods discussed. For example, it is extremely easy to propagate Goji berries from cuttings. On the other hand, if you are interested in growing a tree that will produce cloves, keep in mind that it will take at least 20 years to do so.