Honeyberry

The earliest berry of the year

Honeyberries ripen 2-3 weeks before strawberries — making them often the very first fresh berry of the year in cold-climate regions. In Canada and the upper Midwest US, they fruit in late May to early June, when most other berry plants are still in flower.

This early window is part of why honeyberries became a hot crop for cold-climate orchards: they fill the gap between winter and the start of summer berry season.

Survives -40°F

Honeyberry plants are extraordinarily cold-hardy — surviving temperatures as low as -45°C (-49°F) and flowering even after spring frosts. This makes them one of the few commercial fruits viable in subarctic Saskatchewan, northern Russia, Hokkaido, and central Alaska.

The combination of cold hardiness, early ripening, and high productivity has driven growing commercial interest in honeyberries across northern North America since 2000.

Haskap — the Japanese name

In Japan, honeyberries are called haskap (from the indigenous Ainu language meaning “little present at the end of the branch”). They’ve been a traditional folk medicine and food on Hokkaido for centuries — particularly used by the Ainu for longevity and vision.

The Japanese name “haskap” is increasingly used in North American marketing to differentiate the cultivated commercial fruit from any wild lookalikes.

Flavor like nothing else

Honeyberries have a flavor that’s hard to pin down — most people describe it as a cross between blueberry, raspberry, and blackcurrant, with hints of plum and elderberry. The texture is softer than blueberry, with edible seeds that mostly aren’t noticed.

Underripe fruit is sour and astringent; the berries need to fully ripen on the bush, sometimes 7-10 days after they first turn blue. Pick too early and you get a disappointing version of the fruit’s potential.