North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>]

I'm thinking I have Blue Belle.  That name sounds familiar.  My bushes
after 8-9 years are not even 3 feet high.  Well mulched, good compost
etc, they have never gotten any larger.

So the million dollar question is, have you tasted wine made from
them, & if so, do you notice any distinctive character that really
captures the fresh fruit flavor?

Also, if you have seedlings that are a result of your planting Im
assuming those seedlings would be a mishmash of genetics.

~mIEKAL

(you've almost sold me to put in a planting.....)


On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 11:19 PM, Sarah Kehler Ewing <skkewing@yahoo.com> 
wrote:
> I like all the Honeyberries/Haskaps and while there are noticeable
> differences in shapes, sizes and ripening dates, I'm not seeing much
> differences flavour wise.  Maybe some of them are a bit sweeter, but pick
> any of them a day or two early and they will all taste terrible.  The
> Haskaps are a larger berry, but they are all so much bigger than our native
> Saskatoons/Pin Cherries/Choke Cherries that there is no point in complaining
> about the 'smaller' ones.  Don't get me wrong, when they are properly
> ripened, I love them all out of hand, in jams, in smoothies, in pies, in
> cakes, in muffins, on ice cream, in crisps....  And living this far North,
> you have got to love something that is so frost hardy.  My only problems
> with growing them is that I hate the work of netting them which you have to
> do or they will all be eaten by the birds (but that is worth it to me) and
> the bushes are so brittle I have to make sure that my dogs don't make their
> patrol paths beside them because one winter of deer chasing by a bush took
> it from 4' tall to 6" tall.
>
> We have Blue Belle, Berry Blue, Blue Bird, Blue Velvet, Blue Pear, Borealis,
> Cinderella, Opal, Polar Night , Polar Jewel, Svetlana, Tundra, Wild Honey,
> Honey Sweet, Indigo Treat (9-91), Indigo Gem (9-15), Indigo Yum (9-92) and
> about 150 seedlings from the above.  This might just produce more than we
> can eat next year!
>
> Sarah
> zone 3
> Edmonton, AB