What is Haskap ?

Ripe fresh Haskap berries.

 
     When we visited Far Eastern Russia we were enthralled with so many different types of trees, plants, and opportunities to grow things.  Of course, we wanted to bring everything back, but we needed to settle for plants to be brought to North America safely and legally to avoid the spread of disease and of thugs which would disrupt what grows here. (So one would have needed a Federal Import Permit )
              Haskap is a berry which can be found in Far Eastern Russia.  It tastes like a cross between a blueberry and a raspberry.   They are in fact, native to Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. I am told that the Japanese Haskap is slightly different than the bushes that grow in Russia.  Haskap belongs to the Lonicera caerulea L., family.  The berries grow on deciduous bushes and are also called "Blue honeysuckle".  Some people call them "honeyberries".  The Russians have developed a number of cultivars.   The bushes should grow to about six feet high and six feet wide.  The beauty of this plant is that it does really well in cold, or even frozen climates.  The bushes develop an attractive cream to yellow flower in March, and are said to be able to tolerate a 15 degree Farenheit freeze, and still produce berries.  These berries are well suited to being grown in much of Canada, and in the Williamette Valley of Oregon and colder regions of Idaho.  I think they should also be tried in New Jersey and in the Northeast.  Sadly,. I think that Virginia's climate may indeed be too warm for them to be terribly successful here, but I am willing to try.   These are also a good wetland plant, and so I will have to try to plant some in Nova Scotia.
              What can we do with Haskap ?  In Russia, they make a wonderful coleslaw with a sweeter light dressing and add a few Haskap berries to it.  We also can bake a haskap and apple pie, just as we might bake a rhubarb and strawberry pie or a blackberry and apple. Also in Russia, they make a sundae with vanilla ice cream and with haskap berries I would love to see a recipe for haskap preserves. It can also be dried, or be used to make wine.

Haskap on the vine  (Photo:  Dr. Bob Bors)

                      For people who are interested in preparedness, this may be a great berry to grow since it may be available at different times than other things that we habitually grow.  It gives us one more thing to grow, save, and use for harder times, and it's an EXCELLENT source of Vitamin C.  For many of us, it will be easier to grow than lime or lemon trees indoors.  I recently bought a Haskap Svetlana and a Haskap Borealis.  One is female and the other a pollenator.  We will plant them as soon as we amend the soil in a shady spot for them, and I will let you know how they do in sometimes very hot mountainous Virginia.  Friends from Tennessee say that haskap has been simply hanging on there, but not doing well.



More authoritative sources of Haskap information than mine:

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/articles/Haskap/AVisitorfromRussia.pdf


http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html


http://www.fruit.usask.ca/articles/wetland_haskap.pdf

http://www.homeorchardsociety.org/article/42/

http://ediblebluehoneysuckle.wordpress.com/

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/Documents/DriedHaskap.pdf

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/Documents/Haskap%20Wine.pdf


Here are some Haskap recipes:

  http://www.honeyberryusa.com/honeyberry-recipes.html


Places you can order Haskap by mail:

In USA:

http://www.honeyberryusa.com/honeyberry-plants-1.html

Canada:

• Aubin Nurseries Ltd. Retail & wholesale, no  mail order
• Boughen Nurseries Ltd. (Scroll down) Retail. The scoop on ‘Boughen Nurseries’ here.
• Connon Nurseries Wholesale although they have retail outlets that are not yet carrying haskap.
• Discovery Trees (Scroll down) Retail.
• Gardenworks Retail, walk in only (British Columbia), no mailorder.
• Haskap Central More wholesale than retail. Ships to the US. The scoop on ‘Haskap Central’ here.
• Heavenly Blue Honeysuckle Orchards Ltd. Wholesale
• Jeffries Nurseries Wholesale.
• LaHave Forests Retail and wholesale.
• Lindenberg Seeds Retail (Note- you do not need 3 varieties for pollination despite what the catalogue says)
• Luc Lareault Nursery More wholesale than retail.
• Niagara Lavender Farm Appears to be fruit only.
• Phytocultures Ltd More wholesale than retail.
• Prairie Plant Systems Wholesale and retail. Ships to the US. (This source had very poor packaging for retail shipping and plants arrive very dried and out of their pots with root dirt distributed all over the box. Customer service in response to this problem was terrible. PPS has now changed its packaging.  See this lengthy exchange that finally ends up in their providing pictures of much improved packaging, here and here.) The scoop on ‘Prairie Plant Systems’ here.
• Prairietech Propagation Wholesale. Ships to the US but you pay the cost of the phytosanitary certificate.
• Riverbend Gardens and Nursery Retail
• Riverbend Orchards Wholesale.
• Select Seedling Nurseries Wholesale.
• Treetime.ca Wholesale and retail.
• T&T Seeds Retail.
• Vesey’s Retail. The scoop on ‘Vesey’s’ here.
• Boughen Nurseries Valley River
• Gardenworks Retail, walk in only (British Columbia), no mailorder.
• Henry Field’s The scoop on ‘Henry Field’s’ here.
• The Saskatoon Farm The scoop on ‘The Saskatoon Farm’ here.

     (Listing courtesy of:   http://ediblebluehoneysuckle.wordpress.com/where-to-buy/ )


US:

• Honeyberry USA (Now taking orders for April/May 2011 shipping from Minnesota, USA)
• J.W. Jung Seed Company The scoop on ‘Jung Seed’ here.
• The Tree Farm Retail, walk in only (Longmont, Colorado), no mailorder.

          Bergeson Nursery The scoop on ‘Bergeson Nursery’ here.

• Berries Unlimited The scoop on ‘Berries Unlimited’ here.
• Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchards The scoop on ‘Burnt Ridge Nursery’ here.
• Farmer Seed and Nursery The scoop on ‘Farmer Seed’ here.
• Gurneys Seed and Nursery Co. The scoop on ‘Gurneys’ here.
• J.W. Jung Seed Company The scoop on ‘Jung Seed’ here.
• Lowes Nursery
• Michigan Bulb The scoop on ‘Michigan Bulb’ here.
• Miller Nurseries The scoop on ‘Miller Nurseries’ here.
• One Green World The scoop on ‘One Green World’ here.
• RainTree Nursery The scoop on ‘Raintree Nursery’ here.
• Rolling River Nursery The scoop on ‘Rolling River Nursery’ here.
• Territorial Seed Company The scoop on ‘Territorial Seed Company’ her

 
United Kingdom:

• Mr Fothergill’s See customer feedback here.
• Otter Farm
• Thompson & Morgan The scoop on ‘Thompson and Morgan (UK)’ here. More customer feedback here.
• Van Meuwen
• VermiSell

Licensed propagator for European Union, Norway and Switzerland.  Now taking orders.

http://www.haskapcentral.com/




 I have also noticed seed companies in the US advertising it this year also.

    Happy Easter Everyone !