North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[miekal and <dtv@mwt.net>]

I have 2 year old plants (same variety) that are not struggling but 
they also have not taken off the way other honeysuckles do.  Is there 
anything you did in the way of fertilizer, mulching etc that caused 
them to take off?

Also for those who do not want more than half the weight of the jam to 
be sugar, most food coops & even some groceries now have the lime-based 
gel for making jams & jellies which does not require huge amounts of 
sugar in order to congeal.

mIEKAL


On Thursday, June 19, 2003, at 09:26 PM, John Jourdan wrote:

> In 1996 I planted 2 honeyberry plants(lonicera edulis var. 
> kamtschatica).
> They had a difficult first summer but survived.  In their 3rd and 4th 
> year
> they suffered from heavy deer damage until I enclosed them in fencing. 
> They
> are now growing very well. A year ago I had a good crop of berries but
> failed to cover them from the birds.  We still got plenty to try for 
> fresh
> eating and I wasn't very excited over them. They were a bit too tart  
> for my
> liking and they had a trace of the bitter aftertaste that their blue
> honeysuckle parents are noted for.
> This year I covered them with a net and harvested about 2 quarts per 
> plant.
> The Bluebird   plant ripened first with the Berry Blue about a week 
> behind.
> I picked  the last berries from the Berry Blue on the same day that I 
> picked
> my first quart of strawberries from my earliest variety.
>  We had decided to try them in jam this year.  My wife Judy followed 
> the
> recipe from the Sure-Jell package for blackberry, boysenberry, & 
> raspberry
> jam.  It calls for 5 cups crushed berries to 7 cups sugar and one 
> package of
> Sure-Jell.  It takes about 4 pints of fresh berries to make 5 cups of
> crushed berries.
> We think the jam is excellent with a good balance of sweetness and 
> tartness
> and a very unique flavor reminding me a little of wild huckleberries.
> Next year we plan to try other recipes some without Surejell and 
> perhaps
> some with honey. Also we will mix some with fresh strawberries and 
> combine
> some with blueberries(using  frozen berries).  I am also looking 
> forward to
> trying them in pies, cobblers, and other desserts.
>  If others have used these berries I would be interested in hearing 
> their
> opinions.
>
> John (zone 4) 
>