[lacewing]

I bought two good size honeyberry plants last year. The description stated that the berries were sweet enough to eat straight from the plant. The plants are now producing a small amount of fruit and I am disappointed with the taste, very sharp and sour. I am now wondering if there are different varieties with vearing tastes? Has anyone got any honeyberries?

[allotmentann]

Hi Lacewing, I have two honeyberry plants, but only planted this year so unfortunately I won't be able to say what they taste like! I bought them as they are supposed to taste sweeter than blueberries! Was the flesh inside your berries reddish purple? If the flesh is still green, according to the rhs website, they are not yet ripe and will be very sour. I hope this is the case, as if they turn out to be horrid they will not have a place on my plot for very long!

[lacewing]

I bought the plants for the same reason as you Allotmentann.  I have read other reports  about the honeyberry and they are said to leave blueberries standing. As for ripeness, the berries were dropping off the plants and I took it as an indecation that they were ready. The inside of the fruit was indeed a very dark red.
My hope is thst as the plants mature, the taste of the fruit will improve, only time will tell!

[allotmentann]

Oh no that does not sound too promising! I always read up before planting 'unusal' things as all too often they either don't taste very nice, or become invasive! I had high hopes for these. Perhaps it is just the lack of sunshine we have had. I do hope that someone else has grown them and can tell us that they are infact lovely!

[sunshineband]

I was thinking of buying some, but I am now goin to wait and see what other have to say, espcially after out goji berry venture 

[allotmentann]

Hmm! Yes Goji berries are one reason I wanted to be careful about research! At least the Honeyberries should be nice plants for the garden if the fruits prove inedible!

[sunshineband]

Our goji berry is now rehomed onto the verge behind our plot, where it can spread its long arms to it's heart's content 

[shokkyy]

I planted some honeyberries last year. They're growing away strongly, not at all bothered by the weird weather conditions, but no flowers this year so I'll have to wait a bit before I can taste them. They are attractive little plants though, rather pretty leaves. They'd look good planted in the flower or shrub border. I think there's quite a few different varieties, so maybe the taste varies.

[lacewing]

My Goji Berry is re-homed in the compost heap. I am begining to wonder about all these  so called super-fruits they keep coming up with.  Can't wait to see what the next one to hit the press will be.  Don't think I'll be rushing out to buy.

[Trillium]

I just bought two largish plants myself this year and am waiting for time to clear part of the garden for them. While I like blueberries, I don't find them particularly sweet, so here's hoping honeyberries are sweeter.

[shokkyy]

There's always jam

[lacewing]

I just bought two largish plants myself this year and am waiting for time to clear part of the garden for them. While I like blueberries, I don't find them particularly sweet, so here's hoping honeyberries are sweeter.

Does your plants have a variety tag, or are they just named Honeyberry?

[lacewing]

There's always jam

Yes, but not the reason we bought them!

[Trillium]

When I bought mine, I couldn't remember if they needed a difference variety for pollination, so I bought two different varieties. Unfortunately one tag fell off, but the other is Indigo Gem.

[lacewing]

I will have to do a bit more research and find out if different varieties have different levels of tart/sweet taste. I seem to recall that the advert for my plants said, sweet, slightly tart, with a honey finish. Sounds more like a wine!
The berries my plants have produces so far, have no sweetness what-so-ever.