Edible Honeysuckle
Edible honeysuckle (Lonicera caerulea), also known as blue honeysuckle and honeyberry, is a fruit-bearing shrub in the honeysuckle family. This plant is native to the Japanese island of Hokkaido, as well as to the region east of Lake Baikal in Russia. Does this Spark an idea?
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Description
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Edible honeysuckle shrubs are compact, reaching a mature height of up to 2.5 meters. They produce dark green foliage, as well as pale yellow trumpet-shaped flowers in the summer. In early autumn, these blooms give way to clusters of edible fruits resembling elongated blueberries. In his book "75 Remarkable Fruits for Your Garden," Jack Straub reports that an edible honeysuckle berry tastes like "a blueberry infused with a black currant."
History
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Although wild edible honeysuckle berries have long been consumed by natives of Siberia and Japan, no attempt was made to cultivate them until the 1950s. During this period the Vasilov Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Siberian Horticulture Institute created a number of cultivars. Edible honeysuckle can survive temperatures of up to -50 degrees Fahrenheit. It is rarely cultivated outside of Russia, although some attempts have been made by horticulturalists in Oregon and Canada.
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Health Benefits
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A 2007 study by scientists at Palacky University in Czech Republic found edible honeysuckle berries rich in phenolic compounds, anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins. These compounds possess significant antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.
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References
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