Food Day Canada's Made in Canada - Showcasing Canadian Crops

Haskap Berries

(Lonicera caerulea) The Haskap berry forms one of the most exciting new crops for North America that have come along in decades. Also known as Blue Honeysuckle, or Honeyberries, these flavorful berries are grown on short, bushy, remarkably hardy plants. Wild Haskap types are native to Canada’s boreal forest, and can be found from Alberta to Newfoundland, but the better tasting and infinitely more productive cultivated varieties are native to the North Western Pacific Rim, from Japan to Russia. While versions of this crop have been available in North America for years, their bitter taste meant they never really ended up on Canadian’s plates. More recently, Dr Bob Bors, a breeder in Saskatchewan has been busily snatching up examples of these plants from around the globe, creating the largest collection of Haskap in North America, and using this collection to breed and select the most delicious examples for Canadian growers and consumers. Recipes are limited for this new crop and you won’t find it in your grocery store quite yet, but if you can find a producer, or want to grow your own, use Haskap as a delicious replacement to strawberries, raspberries or blue berries in your favourite dessert recipe! They made tremendous jam! Author: Peter Reimer, University of Saskatchewan Fruit...

Valley Sunset Strawberry

(Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) These strawberry plants produce medium yields of very large, often egg-sized, fruits. Ready for harvest late season, Valley Sunsets are valuable to growers for their ability to extend the harvest season. Valley Sunset strawberries were commercially introduced in Canada in 2009 by the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Center in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Breeder Andrew Jamieson, who developed the Valley Sunsets at the AFHRC, said that the extra week that these berries extend the strawberry growing season could increase strawberry revenues in Canada by 15%. Strawberries currently account for revenues of about $10 million in Atlantic Canada, according to a recent estimate by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Photo courtesy of Agriculture and Agri-Food...

Laurel Strawberry

(Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier) Bred to improve the firmness, color uniformity, and disease resistance of Cavendish strawberries, Laurels are a large and flavourful short-day variety, ready for harvest midseason. This strawberry cross is new to Canada, having just been introduced this year by the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Center of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada after being tested in Atlantic Canada since 1999 under the very watchful eye of Dr. Andrew Jamieson whose stated goal is to...

Wendy Strawberry

(Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne) This is a very early season berry, producing lots of high quality strawberries. The bonus is that these strong plants grow vigorously and send out many runners. It has twice as many berries as other June-bearing varieties. Plants of ‘Wendy’ are vigorous, resembling ‘Evangeline’ (another Nova Scotia strawberry) in habit, and they produce ample runners to establish matted rows. The Wendy strawberry (now sometimes seen as AC Wendy) were commercially introduced...

Stolo Strawberry

(Fragaria × ananassa) Bright red and glossy, this delicious new strawberry cultivar was named after the Stolo First Nation residing in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, where it was first developed and grown. The name translates to “people of the river.” Bred by Mr. Chaim Kempler at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Agassiz, British Columbia, Stolo strawberries are a vigorous cultivar and because of their disease and pest resistance, Stolo has been used as an alternative to more commonly-grown Totem strawberries,...

Chemanius Raspberry

(Rubus Idaeus) Named after a tourist village on Vancouver Island, Chemanius raspberries follow in the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre tradition of naming their berry cultivars after First Nations communities. Bred by Chaim Kempler of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Agassiz, British Columbia, the same researcher who released the popular Stolo strawberry, Chemanius raspberries are suited to processing and as fresh eating berries. They are among the new wave of berries that extend the harvest with...