Honeyberry – From Russia With Love!

We would like to introduce you to a new idea, it’s called a Honeyberry and it’s from ‘Russia with Love.’ It is considered to be one of the world’s tastiest secrets.

This very hardy berry plant (similar in size to a blackcurrant) is native and highly treasured in both Japan and Russia. The large burgundy berries are delicious to eat and are very rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. The Russian’s even processed it into a nutritious drink for their space program and named it the ‘King of Drinks.’

What does it taste like? The berries have an excellent wild fruity aroma and a bitter tang to them. They have a bittersweet taste and a deeper berry flavour to them compared to other soft fruits.  The tang is sharp, but not tarty and it makes you want to come back for more. The simple taste description is a cross between a Black Raspberry and a Wild Blue Blueberry, with a hint of a Sangiovese grape. Sounds delicious? We and many others think so!

An extensive list of more earthly consumed premium products can be crafted from juice to culinary goodies to antioxidant powders. Excitingly it also achieves the ‘Holy Grail’, given its unique colour, tannin and mineral structure to allow the creation of world class mixtures or alcohol from Honeyberry Gin to Port or methode Champenoise.

How much do Honeyberries sell for? Well, how long is a piece of string? The best way to answer this is to describe the Honeyberry price premium to Strawberries in Ukraine and Russia.  In Ukraine, the price of a kilogramme of Honeyberries is  5 to 7 times higher than the prices for Ukrainian Strawberries.  In Moscow, it is 3 to 5 times higher. Even in the Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions of Russia, where the Honeyberries are commonly found in commercial orchards or in the wild. The strawberry premium there is 1.5 to 2.0 times.

The current prices of Honeyberries vary from whether they are organic or not or frozen or fresh. As a guide, in Poland commercial frozen sell for around $2.60 a pound. In North America, commercial grade one frozen sell for about $5.00 plus and fresh a for about $10.00 a pound at the local farmers market.

An acre of 1,000 plants produces about 10,000 pounds. Revenues of up to C$40,000 are easily achievable and orchard costs are well below that of other berries that are currently grown in Scotland, especially Blueberries.

Logie Cassells of LoveHoneyberry has been working together with Stewart Arbuckle of Arbuckle’s Farms to create Scotland’s first 12 acre, Honeyberry Orchard, just outside Dundee. The first berries should be ready for harvest in late June. Thier hope is to introduce Honeyberries to Scotland to create a ‘Premium Honeyberry Growing Region of 5,000 acres,’ with a unique story of Scottish ‘terroir’ and built around beautiful Scottish organic orchards.

If you have not yet tasted the berries, we believe you will be amazed at its delicious flavour and surprised that you have never heard of this berry before. A Dutch scientist’s insightful quote following his trip to the Russian Institute of Horticulture: “I do not know why Russian are engaging in breeding any other crops for which they have lagged behind for decades when they have such a miracle.”