Jason Amundsen has a vivid description for the honeyberry.
"It's like a blueberry that fell in love with a package of SweeTarts," he says with a laugh. "Some are sweet, some are sour and some are tart."
He would know. There are 11,000 honeyberry plants at his Wrenshall, Minn., farm, which is about a half-hour drive from downtown Duluth. He and his wife, Lucie Amundsen, have been welcoming a growing number of honeyberry enthusiasts for the past several years. The u-pick season starts in late June and lasts about three weeks.
The juicy, lozenge-shaped berries have ancestral ties to Siberia — no wonder they prosper in northern Minnesota — and they're delicious in muffins and pancakes, pies and preserves. Basically, anywhere a blueberry belongs.
Commercial food-and-drink purveyors have quickly embraced the honeyberry's memorable flavor and color properties. In Duluth, Farm Lola honeyberries have enhanced small batches of ice cream at Love Creamery and enriched a barrel-aged saison at Bent Paddle Brewing Co., and they've been the star attraction in a refreshing summer mead at White Bear Meadery in White Bear Lake.
"What's so much fun is that, depending upon the variety that's picked — and when it's picked — the taste is never quite the same," says Amundsen, who cultivates 13 honeyberry varieties. "It's why people come back, three and four times a season, and bring their friends."
Farm Lola, 852 Cemetery Road, Wrenshall, Minn., 218-203-5995, farmlola.com.
Singing, ceremonies and straw hats: Olympics opening ceremony in Tahiti centers Polynesian culture
![Viva Froeming, left, touched the face of friend Virginia Goering as her twin sister Vera Sims looks on. The three ladies, all 101 years old, have been](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ZRFTXJFYUVHBTFGD4UNQNYTEGI.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Three 101-year-old friends recall fond memories in 1940s Alexandria
Celine Dion makes musical comeback at Paris Olympics with Eiffel Tower serenade
![Former Gophers diver Sarah Bacon, right, will compete with Kassidy Cook in the women's 3-meter synchronized springboard competition at the Paris Olymp](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/N37HMV3KY5CYPB4SIMTKQVIH7M.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)