What are some lesser known superfoods?

I was curious as to what are some crops (perhaps known only domestically) that can be crowned as a superfood but has yet to reach a threshold amount of global coverage to term it as such. The reason was that as some foods get more popular, prices skyrocket and supply chains get more complex to reach transcontinental distances. If we were to identify them before the majority does (if ever, in the foreseeable future), perhaps benefits could be extracted for relatively cheap.

Answer

Do you mean nutritionally foods? Usually those are the ones that alternate in popularity and get called as such

If so, one such food is blackstrap molasses as a sweetener - if you get the one rich in iron. I think Kale has gone out of the superfood fad but it’s nutrition content is still great. Pumpkin seeds is another one. Blueberries too. Anything whole grain is great, not just the fad ones, like barley.

There’s a lot like these. If you try a wide variety of Whole foods you’ll likely include quite a few nutritional dense ones

Answer

Fruits are the most high in nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins. Incredibly important for liver function, the organ that works the hardest 24/7. Leafy greens are high in chlorophyll, the green ‘blood’ of the plants. Without this life is not possible. The two most important building blocks to start from.

Answer

> The reason was that as some foods get more popular, prices skyrocket and supply chains get more complex to reach transcontinental distances.

That tends to actually reduce prices. Consumers are heavily buffered against price changes via warehousing, futures contracts and the market forces grocery stores have to deal with. Those only work effectively with large markets.

One of the better examples I can think of is pineapple, the plant is not very productive (2-3 years to fruit) and will only produce a single fruit a season (but you pay get a second single fruit crop in the same season from a sucker). Somehow we can still get it for ~$3/lb and everywhere in the country.

To give a local example I grow passion fruit but i’m in a couple of years productivity lull right now as I replaced most of my vines last year. In Florida they basically grow like weeds (can easily add 20’ of vine a season) and a single plant can potentially produce 100+ fruit (plus it produces continuously throughout the season and needs basically no care). Whole passion fruit are not popular in the US though so even when you do find them in a supermarket they are absurdly priced, $2.50 a fruit is pretty typical. Even the loclish (about 30 mins away) specialist passion fruit farm they are $1.50/each because they just don’t have enough demand to bring the price down. If you go to a country they are popular they are abundant and cheap. Costa Rica I can get them for ~$0,10/each.