Farm growing the haskap, the perfect berry for northern climate
The haskap, a fruit that looks similar to a blueberry, is being grown at a farm in New Liskeard.
Verger du Terrior has more than 20,000 haskap plants and the farm is trying to educate people on the up-and-coming fruit.
While the berry is still relatively uncommon in Ontario, the owners of Verger du Terrior said this week that it’s the perfect fruit to grow in northern Ontario.
“Once they are established, it’s a very hardy northern fruit. You don’t have to worry about them, they will survive the winter and the hard spring,” Louise Philbin said.
“They are better suited to the north than the south, which for once is unusual.”
The northern Ontario haskap farm is the largest commercial haskap orchard in the province.
“The really cool thing … is the fact that we have the opportunity to not only have the quality of berries, but the quantity, too,” said Sarah Boucher.
“We will be pulling over 120,000 pounds this harvest, which is quite astonishing considering they’re only halfway into their growth. They have another four years of growing to do.”
With three times the antioxidants than a blueberry, Boucher said the potential for haskaps is unlimited.
“Our varieties here are balanced, sweet, a bit of tanginess but they a gorgeous berry,” she said.
“A lot of people come in for health reasons, but also to bake, to press them and put them in beverages -- the options are really endless. We harvest the haskaps for the beverage industry, for juicing, distillery’s and brewers.”
The farm also offers pick-your-own-berries events a few days a week that sees hundreds of people come to the orchard.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
Want to turn off Meta AI? You can't - but there are some workarounds
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.
opinion Trump's Republicans falling far behind in fundraising, infrastructure
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Washington political analyst Eric Ham explains how and why Republicans -- up and down the ballot -- are falling far behind Democrats in both fundraising and infrastructure.
Canadians are eyeing moves to these cities for more affordable housing
Faced with elevated housing prices, half of Canadians in the country's largest cities are considering moving to places with more affordable housing.
Canadians' interest in buying EVs fades as barriers, concerns remain: J.D. Power
A new study finds fewer Canadians say they're interested in buying an electric vehicle as concerns remain about limited driving ranges, high prices and a lack of charging stations.
McDonald's says US$18 Big Mac meal was an 'exception' and their prices haven't risen that much
McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases.