Our very own Peter Arbuckle was on the The James Hutton Institute podcast, speaking with Dr Louise Gamble and Caroline Black to Elaine Maslin all about the benefits and wonders of Scotland’s new super fruit, the honeyberry.
It was Peter’s son, Stuart, who came across honeyberries on a visit to Japan, and observed that they tolerated cold conditions very well, and wondered if they would be a suitable crop for growing on Scottish soil. After much research and trialling, Stuart’s intuition has been proven right, and the burgeoning Scottish honeyberry industry has blossomed, with the Scottish Honeyberry Growers group being the largest UK commercial honeyberry growing association, with about 72 orchards across eight growers.
As Peter says,
“In Japan, they’re called haskapu, which literally means ‘a little present at the end of a branch’ and they’ve long been cherished for their health giving properties. They’re like a blueberry on steroids… They’re full of anthocyanins, antioxidants, vitamins, with a deep purple juice and a sweet tangy flavour, and they could be classed as the next super berry.”