I'd never heard of them until now. I just looked them up and see they are a berry. They look similar to a blueberry, but you say they are sour so I guess they don't taste like blueberries at all. The only really sour berry I'm familiar with are gooseberries, and (with enough sugar) they make a great pie! Is that something you could do with the Haskaps?

Look what I found - have you seen this recipe page?

Here is a link that might be useful: Some like 'em sweet, some like 'em sour

haskaps are quite nice, but you have to go to Hokkaido, Japan to get 'em

the u of s honyberries are riding the coat-tails of 50 years of russian research, not japanese

i will give them credit, their berries are a little better flavored
but out of the 12 or so varieties i have they are the worst growers

honeyberries are quite tart and not for eating out-of-hand
their flavor is enhanced with processing and the addition of another complementary fruit

Raw, to me they taste like an under-ripe blueberry, one that needed a couple more days on the plant. I can and do eat them, but not the best thing in the world.

Cooked, however, I think they're great. They make wonderful pies and fruit fillings. Not really very much different from blueberry, but very tart and they require a lot of sugar.

Overall, I'm very glad I have them, they are different and its fun to get something that ripens SO early.

if you leave them longer do you think they will sweeten up or will they just fall off. I have been thinking about getting some. I heard they were more like a cross between a raspberry and a blueberry maybe that is where the tartness comes in.

I always wanted to go to Japan.............Hmm??

I don't like them for exactly that reason - too sour. Same with sour cherries. Did you know sour and sweet cherries contain the same amount of sugar? Sweet cherries have less acid, so they taste sweeter. Sweetened haskap or sour cherries don't agree with my constitution (I have insulin resistance and feel sick after eating anything with too much sugar).

I find they get sweeter when left on another 2 or 3 weeks.
Since they're the first berries of the season, it seems every year they're a magnet for Cedar Waxwings, ..they even pick them green. I cover them up with row cover as soon I see birds in there, it also helps to prolong ripening without falling off, since the plant is protected from the wind.

did some picking today
2 of note are:

the zolooshka's are very tasty and good producers of big berries,
but they are low growing so may not be a good option if you don't like to pick either bent over or sitting on the ground

the tomichka's have a good flavor this year, excellent producer of medium sized berries
this bush has a more upright growth making for easier picking

Thanks for the responses.

Blue Belle was the variety I was sampling. I picked the rest yesterday and they did seem sweeter -- not sweet, kind of like a tart raspberry (in sourness, not same taste), but enjoyable to eat a few fresh. More than a few and I think they'd lose their appeal for me. I don't have enough for cooking and probably wouldn't bother even if I did. Gave most of them to my daughter again since she seems to like the sour flavour. Borealis is ripening now but I haven't tried them yet.

Keep us posted how those go

Out of the jams and jellies my wife makes, the Blue Honeysuckle (AKA Haskap)are in the top 3 in sales. I have about 300 seedlings from a number of sources and there are many flavours. Several things which make differences are temperature - consistent heat (good temps in the mid to high 20's) will bring the sugars around as the berries get ripe. You need to be sure the berries are ripe. Some varieties tend to look good but when cut open you will find they are still slightly green. Soil types are likely to cause some flavour differences.
As Konrad says, the Cedar Waxwings are a huge pest and unless you get the netting to the ground they will keep eating berries. We have never gotten a Saskatoon here because of robins and we only get Honeysuckle because I net the rows!

Here is a link that might be useful: My blog with connections to Blue Honeysuckle

Clayton, does your wife sell jams and jellies at the SFM?

Re: Selling jams

No we just sell from home.

We were hoping for a reasonable crop but it is disappearing every day!
Same is true of any green berries right now as the Cedar Waxwings are not choosey!

Clayton

My update, as of July 6, 11 days after my last comments:

Blue Belle is still being picked though the fruit is no different than a week and half ago -- tart but not excessively so, and with an okay flavour that is like...well, haskaps.

Borealis is very sour, unpleasant, even after pickings spread out over more than a week. All 3 of us here find Borealis unpleasant. (versus 1 who found Blue Belle unpleasant, 1 who found it okay (me), and 1 who liked it).

Borealis has bigger berries, but it's just bigger nastiness IMO.

Sorry if my comments offend any haskap fans, but those are my honest take on these berries.

Don

Don, that sure doesn't sound like Borealis..this is supposed to be the sweetest, best tasting variety available! Were they comletely ripe? Like cherries, I think they are supposed to taste better the longer you can leave them on the bush.

Sorry to hear you aren't liking them...I have Tundra, Borealis and Berry Blue, which I planted this year. I tend to like tart things, but I hope they don't wind up being TOO sour!

Thank you for your honest opinion Don!
Where did you get them? From Boughen? If so, then I wouldn't be surprised if it was a wrong plant, it hapen to me with a plum tree.

Just picked some of the Blue Belle, about 8lb from 4 plants, I find one of the most productive berry plants I've seen.

{{gwi:120784}}

I wish there was a way to taste them before you buy them. I wonder if our farmers market would have them.

I think in Saskatchewan at least, there may be a couple of u-pick farms that have haskaps. There are also a few places that have the U of S cherries.

the haskaps are tart, and they lack the flavor profile of some of the less hybridized varieties

our sweetest ones this year were the 'svetl's' and 'zolooshka's'
and they had a more intense 'honeyberry' flavor

to me the haskaps compared to the older varieites,
are like comparing wild blueberries to commercial store bought ones
the haskaps are bigger, easier to pick mechanically but lack the flavor

these berries are nothing new and have been available since the 1960's,
but back then they were known as 'sweetberries'

the 'berry blue' aka 'czech #17' and the 'blue belle' aka 'tomichka' were both very good and productive this year

any of the 'polar' line has been a little disappointing,
with polar spring being the poorest and yanked

Konrad (and Weeper) -- I got my honeyberries from Hole's in St. Albert. The ones labelled Borealis were indeed horribly sour, even after sitting ripe on the bush for a week or two. Quite possibly they were mislabelled, as I bought that variety because it was said to be sweet and wonderful, and ended up being anything but.

Konrad, your production is fantastic. I have two varieties that I guess are not good pollinators for each other (as intotheark described earlier this year), so I got enough berries to sample and nothing more.

I see you have that weird leaf-yellowing disease on your Borealis. What is that? It has been in my Borealis since I bought the plant and has now affected over half the leaves on my Borealis plant, yet hasn't touched the adjacent Blue Belle plant at all.

Not sure,..I wasn't aware, the production was great of this blue belle.

Sorry, I had that backwards. It is my Blue Belle that has the yellowing and mottling on many leaves, the Borealis is unaffected.

Just a follow up on my earlier comments about our harvest. So between the constant feeding of the Cedar Waxwings and the high winds (literally dried the tops of the taller plants off!) we ended up with less than 2 liters of poor quality berries! Not an encouraging harvest.

As to the flavours. I am not surprised at the number of folks who find the berries tart to sour. Unless you have had good heat for a couple of weeks as they finish ripening, they will not sweeten up. With the rather delayed ripening caused by the rain and cool weather many of us experienced this year across the prairies I am thinking the ripening will have been uneven and the uptake of tannins/anthocyanins which give the dark blue color will have been excessive or at least more prominent. Think about adding a black tea to the berries in your bowl of fruit and no sugar. It is likely you would find this in any of the blue/black fruits when we don't get heat to convert the sugars to provide sweetness!

I find they flower for a long period of time..about two weeks, I've seen flowers and fruit in the same time, so letting them sit under row covers makes a HUGE difference in taste. Last night I picked about 2 lb. from 2 bushes,..ate too many!

I finally got to the farmers market on Sat and nobody had haskaps for me to try. Konrad do your row covers allow for bees or do you cover after pollination.

I put them on usually when I see birds in them,..when turning blue.

What kind of material do you use Konrad?

Clayton

Not sure, I think it's the same as Canadian Tire sells as frost blanket, got a large roll from Apache Seeds in Edmonton,.. it's worth it.
..
Put on June 18

Thanks Konrad a picture is worth a 1000 words. Looks like I found a u-pick place for haskaps only 1 1/2 hours north look out Berwyn here I come.

I was thinking of investing in a few haskaps this year, and never even considered that the fruit might be tart. Has anyone had some years that the fruit tastes more sweet than others or find that certain growing conditions might produce a sweeter fruit on the same exact variety of plant. Any updates from anyone with more years on their plants?

I have been growing my own seedlings for about 10 years. Some ripen and sweeten some stay very tart. The tart ones are usually not really ripe although the overall population has the same constituents which are anthocyanins which give the dark blue color as well as tannins which gives tea the sharp flavour and brown color. We like them better in pies and other pastries in a half mix or so with blueberries depending on how tart the picking is. Also anything low on the bush and not getting sunlight is going to be tart since it cannot convert the sugars!

These were 2014. Many were from low growing plants (so the Cedar Waxwings missed them!) but also quite tart! That is a Canadian nickel for comparison.

My take is they are not for everyone but they certainly have many health qualities so it is worth finding a way to use them. Reports from locals around Saskatoon are that cropping/fruit production is unreliable and my experience has been the same. One of the things missing is bee pollinators so early since they can begin blooming when the temperature gets in the 5 to 10 C range and bees just are not flying any distance at those temperatures.

I like Blue Velvet if you can get it. Big berries and generally will sweeten up. You do need a partner for pollination to happen. Blue Velvet is a later variety than Borealis or Tundra so finding a pollinator may be difficult but there are some coming out of Oregon. Here is the One Green World site! They have introduced some of the Sweetberry varieties which you find at garden centres who bring in their stock from the US. (same honeysuckle as all the edible varieties just their chosen name). End of season should be dry and hot for sweet berries on Haskap (Edible Blue Honeysuckle to me).

Some vendors are renaming Russian varieties and marketing them here. These are some good some not so good and many have small fruit!

The U of Saskatchewan are working on some new varieties and there will definitely be better quality. Some of the big producers are also doing some of their own selection from seed.

Lots of info on the Haskap Canada site!

Enough for now!

Clayton

I can see,.. these berries with a mix pink color could have stayed about another two weeks on the bush for sweetening up..but needs covered up against birds.

Might have my first fruits from seedling this year also, Clayton, ..the ones you grew, have you had any turned out better then the parents?

Last year I had 0 crop due to a drought, I don't water, ...do you water them?

We had a good crop coming last year but I did not have energy to cover so lost them all! I think some of my plants are as good but have had very few harvests because of Cedar Waxwings. Last years since 2008 have been wet here do no irrigation. This year is looking dry but I have about 80 plants so not sure if I will irrigate or not. One group is smaller so could do them.

Yeah...it's hard work for a good reward! I'm thinking to put them all in a row...had them one here and one bush there..in a row, then put a permanent frame up, perhaps loops with re-bars and get some long commercial heavy bird netting with very small holes so birds don't get trapped, then it's just throwing the netting over the loops. NOT sure if it will ever happen. In the meantime it will be more raspberries! lol

I grow them too and I too don't find them as good as other berries, but since they are the first to ripen, I am excited to eat them anyway! Plus, the plant is gorgeous in my opinion. Anyone tried Aurora or Boreal Blizzard yet? I have the "lesser flavored one" Berryblue and "Ok flavoured" Tundra.

I don't remember why, but I concluded that they're not worth the effort.

Yuan Gong: You are in Hamilton, you can grow peaches if you want to. Lol... Just saying you have plenty of other, better choices than Haskaps (lucky you! :) . I sometimes think about moving to Saint Catharines just to grow better fruits. Back to Haskaps. I would like to add that they don't require any effort. You just plant 'em, harvest 'em, enjoy 'em... No need to fertilize, prune, use any chemical at all. As some mentionned, you might have to cover them to protect from birds... but in my case, birds don't seem to have notice or be interested in them. You might have to prune them a bit eventually too... nothing complicated... So that's very nice when you want super healthy organic food without the effort.

Yeah...that's about the only hassle to cover them up for about another two weeks when turning blue, makes them allot tastier!

Regarding haskaps--a few years ago, I attended the NAFEX convention in Saskatoon, and we toured the breeding grounds at the university. They turned us loose in the fields and we were able to taste at will. I found one bush that yielded fruit that was as tasty as any berry of any kind I've ever eaten...it didn't have the sort of metallic aftertaste that I've detected in all others I've ever tried, including the ones there, and was sweet and richly flavored. I refrained from the temptation of pilfering a cutting, and whatever that cultivar (among thousands) was, it'll probably never be released, since their criteria are heavy on machine harvesting and suitability for shipping. However, it did demonstrate that this is a fruit with real potential, which will hopefully someday be realized.

They also had a cultivar with fruit about two inches long and a half-inch in diameter. But it was sprawling and not suitable for picking machines, hence not slated for release.

Does anybody know where to get the new Boreal Blizzard?

Who ever says they are not sweet are picking them too soon. They turn blue

but the inside also needs to turn blue if it is green inside it is not ripe. Also if

they do not release easy from the bush they are not ripe. Or maybe they have

the wrong varieties. Best berries I have tasted when ripe, and everything you

made from them turns out excellent ie Wine, jam, ice cream, pies, juice ect.,

Well..row cover did my first protection!

Konrad, I haven't seen Boreal Blizzard in our local greenhouses..the online catalog's I've seen say to look for it in the spring 2017 catalog.

I am about to try my hand at making some haskap jam - I just picked 3 lbs of berries off of one bush on my tiny front yard in Ottawa. This is the first year I got a harvest like this and I don't want to waste it so if anyone can point me to a good recipe, I would be so grateful !

Nice. My first ever haskap harvest was last week and got about 30 berries lol

I got about the amount girlwarrior did, but it was off 3 shrubs. As for a recipe, I would just go for something meant for blueberries, I'm sure it would work fine!

Konrad, it sounds like Boreal Blizzard is officially released this fall, so maybe it will be available some places then.

Yes thanks...I was hoping for this year, you can order here...Haskap

Very interested in the variety with 2inch berries that is unreleased... Any possibility of contacting U of S and talking them in to sharing this for home gardeners?

Give it a shot...all they can do is say no.