I don’t like blueberries, but my partner does so I’m planning on growing a couple varieties including O’Neal and Pink Popcorn. I’ve heard that some blueberries have hints of other fruits:
Peach Sorbet - peach?
Silver Dollar - pineapple?
Razz - raspberry?
Is this accurate or is it just a marketing gimmick? I’m in Central Virginia (Zone 7A) and would appreciate recommendations, particularly for blueberries with unique flavors. Maybe I might like them more then…
I’d say blueberries will always taste like blueberries but certainly different varieties may have a slightly different flavor.
We like to use other fruit and spice adjectives when describing how something tastes because we are trying to differentiate one variety from another…but saying something has hints of, say, vanilla or pineapple doesn’t make that fruit vanilla or a pineapple. If you want a pineapple, buy a pineapple, etc.
Like a red wine with hints of chocolate and raspberry doesn’t make the wine either.
I’m sure these attractive adjectives are used in marketing and are successful.
There are soooo many varieties of fruits and berries to chose from. I’m just try to be happy with the subset of what’s out there that I can successfully grow and ripen where I live and with the effort I put into the.
From what I have tasted personally, Pink Lemonade has the least ‘blueberry’ flavor. When fully ripe it is incredibly sweet with as much of a fruity taste as a blueberry flavor
Stingy producer though
My favorite wine descriptor was “hints of wet river rock” (aroma).
I was debating between Pink Lemonade and Pink Popcorn. I’d like a pink variety, even if it’s a bit of a novelty. I was leaning towards Pink Popcorn because I read it’s more productive, Pink Lemonade is a rabbiteye so it wouldn’t pollinate the others. But maybe the flavor would make it worth it.
I’m not sure if O’Neal will like your winter temperatures. Maybe another grower can chime in?
That’s half correct,because there are other varieties in the makeup.Here’s an explanation from the ARS.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/beltsville-md-barc/beltsville-agricultural-research-center/genetic-improvement-for-fruits-vegetables-laboratory/docs/pink-lemonade-1/
Also,I have Razz and a hint,is a fairly accurate description of the Raspberry flavor.Before having had some people taste for the first time,my question to them was,if another fruit comes to mind.Most say no.
My Pink Lemonade seems to about as productive as my other blueberries, but I’m in a warmer zone 9a in California. Agree with the flavor description though, very sweet and fruity. In my opinion most of the “x fruit tastes like entirely different y fruit” is mostly a marketing gimmick. Maybe the only exception that I’ve personally tasted is I tried some apples that actually did have a bit of banana flavor.
Which apples taste like banana? I read Wealthy apples taste a bit like raspberry/strawberry, but I’ve never seen one in stores to try myself. Thinking of planting one, supposedly it’s a good pollinator/has a long bloom period.
I have pink lemonade. It has a nice flavor, definitely distinct from regular blueberries. Not better or worse, just different. I can’t really say it resembles any other fruit other than a blueberry. I have had some blueberries that get a sort of grape or lychee flavor undertone. Also, the more I eat blueberries the more I think they have flavor similarities to kiwis. Here are some pics of my pink lemonade.
I want to say it must have been Winter Banana. Although I would say it tasted mostly like an apple, with a hint of banana aroma. The banana flavor was most noticeable in a really ripe apple, and even then it was pretty subtle. My guess is this apple produces a bit more isoamyl acetate than other apples. Or it was just the power of suggestion influencing my senses 
Hannah’s Choice has pretty strong peach overtones. It’s also quite sweet.
There’s one called “PeachyBlue” that’s supposed to taste like peaches. It’s patented and only sold directly from the rights holder/propagator though and the contact email they gave doesn’t work for inquiries. So…
Interesting, I had not heard of Hannah’s Choice. Is it better than Bushel and Berry Peach Sorbet I wonder?
I don’t have experience with either of those cultivars, but can say Hannah’s Choice is the best tasting blueberry I’ve ever had. Like you, I’m not really a blueberry lover but Hannah’s Choice is now one of my favorite fruits. If you decide to buy, I highly recommend Backyard Berry Plants. The seven blueberry plants we’ve purchased from them have been in excellent condition upon arrival and have all thrived (with one exception that they promptly replaced). We’ve had great success using their 1/3 native soil, 1/3 pine mini-nugget, 1/3 peat moss planting medium recommendation as well. Just need to make sure it’s really mounded high as it will settle over the following few years.
