"The Honeyberry surprise of the tour was Honeybee, a variety we had not seen in an orchard setting before. However, given its many visible strengths, we expect to see it appearing in many more orchards in Europe and North America in the coming years.
We did not see Boreal Beauty, Blizzard or Beast in a real orchard setting, but from the mature plants, we saw in Tadeusz Kusibab test plots. They look full of promise and we believe strongly that, they will become the backbone of any commercial orchard’s plantings in the Late and Very Late Harvesting groups." http://www.lovehoneyberry.com/european-honeyberry-variety-review/
Happy to see Blizzard with such a high number assuming higher is better. Just received my Blizzard, Beast, and Beauty. I’ll be happy if they are better than Sugar Mountain Blue and Aurora.
Also received a Keiko but don’t know much about it. Said to be one of the sweetest to taste but only 13.5 brix on honeyberryusa. A tart/sweet category on lovehoneyberry. I’m guessing that it will be a processing berry.
Doesn’t look like Vostorg or Silginka are readily available in the US.
I couldnt read the site the chart was taken from, in some other language so I dont really know what the numbers mean. Im guessing each person just picked their favorite variety and the numbers represent that but I could be wrong. Also to try them all at the same time, fresh and in ideal condition, would be tough do the difference in ripening dates, not sure if these were frozen berries or what, but that would have to have some effect on the results Im guessing.
The variety tasting at the Haskap Field Day produced clear winners: “Boreal Blizzard” ahead of “Vostorg”, “Aurora” and “Silginka”. Already last year, these varieties convinced us in the rating.
Other promising varieties from our experiments were not fully ripe and therefore not included in the tasting. Although the taste is convincing, not all varieties are equally well suited for commercial cultivation. We are happy to advise you and offer you powerful Haskap young plants in 3 liter pots for optimal growth.
Im in S central North Dakota, borderline zone 3/4. Strange you are so far behind? Even my apples are quarter sized already here, and my honeyberry bloom before them.
could be we had a very cold winter this year. probably took longer for the soil to warm up. weve also had a very dry spring. we’ll see what next year brings. my bushes are still pretty small also. putting on alot of new growth now.
It’s been very strange here this spring too (4b, Northern MI), some of my haskaps are still flowering also. Some flowered in May, I saw some flowers yesterday on one of the Indigos. To be fair, mine are in their second leaf and they had tough wet growing conditions last summer and were slow to establish. They just pretty much doubled in size in the past couple weeks.
How was everyone’s experince with honeyberries this year? I’m curious how some of the new varieties will turn out like banana blue and such, which are said to be sweeter. This year was my 4th year with Aurora, borealis and indigo gem. Berries only grew to the size of peas on the Aurora this year and never turned blue, those were my only berries. Last year I sampled a couple from the Aurora and had to spit them out. Left hang blue for a week, not long enough I guess.
I let mine hang 3 weeks blue and they could have used a 4th. I thought they were very good. Aurora was the best. I don’t have many cultivars, I can see getting the right cultivars is key.
I made a honeyberry flip with them @IowaJer thanks for that recipe, it came out awesome and my wife kept asking “What are those berries again?” She loved it. So easy, no spices, and doesn’t need them. We ate with ice cream instead of whip cream.
got a couple bowls off my indigo treat/ gem. they were pretty good fresh but still a bit tart got about 6 berries on my 2nd leaf aurora that are starting to ripen now. had 2 on it last year that were pretty good. should have a better comparison this year to go by. looking to put in honey bee next spring. honey berries , like currants, grow exceptionally well in our rocky clay soil and cool summers. they have added 15in. off new growth so far this summer with only a top dressing of worm castings and chip mulch.
My auroras were huge this year! I took samples to friends, who found them sour. I like them right off the bush. Haven’t had enough to try baking with them yet, but expect them to be great there, too. I have numerous varieties, but auroras seem the best so far.
Honeyberries are starting to make it main stream. Theisens (an IA/WI Tractor Supply Company type store) had a bunch of varieties of Honeyberries in stock this year. I almost jumped on a few in the 50% off sale they had on nursery stock as they cleared out things, but I don’t have a place for them.
Don’t know if they will get them back next year, it looked like the whole display was still full of them around July 4… Probably few people know what they are.
That flip looks awesome! Mind sharing the recipe? Ive got 8 cups of Aurora/Tundra in the fridge I need to do something with before they rot. Can only eat so many each morning on cerial.
Newbee here, I realize this is an old thread but I thought it was very relevant to some of the work I’ve been doing in the past year.
If anyone is interested, I made a Honeyberry mead in 2018 that just recently went on pour for the public as of Feb 15, 2019 at Schramm’s Mead in Ferndale, Michigan. I worked with Logie from Lovehoneyberry.com on selecting the fruit from a grower in Quebec, using mostly polish varieties and some Aurora. I think it makes for outstanding mead, personally.
In my opinion it’s an absolutely wonderful fruit, and I really can’t wait to see wider adoption in fruit markets. Couldn’t wait though- I bought some plants last year to start growing my own!
