Market Fresh Finds: Boysenberries’ fickleness frustrated creator

Imagine this:

Rumors of a strange new berry have reached your ears. Sweet, tangy and oh, so juicy, this berry is like no other. Some say it is a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry, or maybe a loganberry, or even a dewberry. No one knows exactly what it is, where it came from or how to find it. It must be growing on a nearby farm, though, because all your neighbors are talking. As a great berry lover, you decide to investigate the abandoned fields. Lo and behold, what do you find? Surrounded by weeds, unfamiliar brambles wind in leggy loops around fence posts. This must be it! Pocketing some cuttings, you head back home. A friend of yours has some berry fields. Maybe he would try growing them for you…

This is the story of the boysenberry. Rudolph Boysen was a Swedish berry breeder living in Anaheim, Calif., in the 1920s. He experimented with creating a new type of berry. Though he succeeded, he was frustrated by the berries’ fickle growth, and he soon abandoned the project. However, the berry’s taste was too good to be forgotten. In the late 1920s, USDA agent George Darrow tracked down the old farm, found the neglected brambles and enlisted the help of farmer Walter Knott with propagation. Knott named the berry after its original creator and was greatly successful in establishing a boysenberry growing operation, which later grew to become the renowned Knott’s Berry Farm.

In the United States, boysenberries are grown mostly along the Pacific coast. Cold-tolerant, hardy varieties are known to thrive on the Atlantic coast as well. Besides the U.S., New Zealand is another major producer of boysenberries.

The boysenberry is a bramble fruit in the rose family. Long, trailing canes produce berries during their second year of growth for a short, four-week fruiting period in the summer months. The reddish-black berries are large and juicy with the taste of an exotic blackberry. Though delicious, boysenberries are fragile. They are not commercially available, which is why you should try these hard-to-get berries at local farms and markets.

Like many other types of berries, boysenberries are a healthy treat. A 1-cup serving provides you with 28 percent of your daily dietary fiber. It also delivers 21 percent of your daily folate and 13 percent of your daily vitamin K, along with other vitamins and antioxidants. Some studies have even found that boysenberries may help lower blood pressure.

Boysenberries can be used to spice up any old berry recipe sitting in your cupboard. They are especially good in breakfast parfaits. Try pairing them with greek yogurt and nuts for a delicious, protein-filled breakfast. For dessert pies, boysenberries can be runny and require a thickener to allow the filling to set. For a healthier option that takes a fraction of the time, slice up a few of your favorite summertime fruits and mix with whole boysenberries, chopped mint and a sprinkle of anise seeds for a fresh fruit salad.

The boysenberry was brought back from the brink of death because of its fantastic flavor. Let’s keep it alive and celebrate the boysenberry at our farms and markets this summer.

For additional boysenberry recipes and serving suggestions, check out Chef Scotty’s Market Fresh Recipes at http://ext100.wsu.edu/clark/?p=8163. The FreshMatch program provides help to SNAP consumers to purchase more fruits and vegetables at local farmers markets. Find out more at: https://www.clark.wa.gov/public-health/snap-farmers-markets.

Jessika Brenin is a Clark County WSU Extension Master Food Preserver. For additional recipes, food preservation and food safety information visit http://ext100.wsu.edu/clark/?p=1134. Have questions? Call MFP Helpline: 360-397-6060 ext. 5366, or join Facebook Discussion Group “WSU Home Food Preservers – Clark County.”