North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Edible honeysuckle is mostly high in acid, which is why the ones you have taste sour as a fresh fruit.  Their sugar levels can actually be fairly high, with 17 Brix not being too unusual.  
For clarification,   material being sold as Honeyberry is from Russian material.   
I just spent a day with Dr. Maxine Thompson the breeder who is using Japanese material to produce new edible honeysuckle selections.  She calls the berries "Haskap" after the traditional Japanese name.  She has selections that bloom as much as two months later than the Russian stuff, have berries more than twice the size, and some selections are low in acid, so that they taste sweet when eaten fresh.  Helping her pick and evaluate new selections is a real education in these new fruits.
If you have the "honeyberry" type try making a pie  with them.  Use a standard blueberry pie recipe and eat the pie while it's still warm.  If you can't taste at least five different fruit flavors, your taste buds are dead.  And when Dr. Thompson's selections come on the market, those old ones will be plain by comparison.
-Lon Rombough

NEW grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
On Jun 13, 2009, at 8:37 AM, Jim Fruth wrote:

I have read posts where folks say that if our honeyberries are sour that 
we are picking them too soon and they sweeten with time.  I tried that.  If 
I don't pick them when they are sour, they fall off and they are still sour.
To answer the sand vs. clay argument, my honeyberries are growing in 
sandy loam, 5% organic matter - 95% sand.
Plant pathologists claim that sour fruit indicates a copper deficiency. 
My soil is not copper deficient but is it possible that honeyberries need 
more than most plants?
Are your honeyberries sour or sweet and do you know why?

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell) 

_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list 
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions.  
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/