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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2017)
April 14, 2017 Researcher breeds better haksap berries By MARGARETT WATERBURY For the Capital Press Some people take up new projects in retirement. Golfing, say, or restoring old cars. But for plant breeder Maxine Thomp- son, retirement from her posi- tion as a professor of horticul- ture at Oregon State University offered the chance to focus on a pet project she’s been involved with for many years: haksap berries. Haksap berries are the edible fruit of Lonicera caerulea, a hon- eysuckle native to northern bo- real forests in Asia, North Amer- ica and Europe. The extremely cold-tolerant plants produce a deep purple, tangy-sweet berry said to provide a concentrated dose of health-promoting anti- oxidants. Maxine began working on haksap in 2000, initially concen- trating on varieties from Siberia. “I first evaluated 35 Russian varieties,” says Maxine, “and none of them are any good. They’re small, and they bloom too early, when the bees aren’t out. They’re not suited for this climate.” Then, a friend passed along a single haksap bush some- body had brought him from Japan. She planted it out, and it bloomed a month later than the Russian varieties. “And the next year,” laughs Maxine, “I went to Japan, and got seeds from eight different sources.” Today, Thompson works Margarett Waterbury/For the Capital Press Shinjie Kawai poses in front of a haksap variety that breeder Max- ine Thompson named after him on his farm in Brownsville, Ore. exclusively with cultivars from northern Japan, which she says have a superior flavor and berry size to varieties from Russia, as well as better adaptation to mod- erate coastal climates. Thompson’s initial plant- ings were in fields at OSU, but in 2008, she decided to take her plants home with her. Trouble was, she didn’t have space for all her bushes — so she reached out to Shinjie Kawai, a former student and current faculty re- search assistant in OSU’s De- partment of Horticulture. Unlike most Americans, Kawai was already familiar with haksap berries from his native Japan, where they’re harvested and used as a popular ingredient in ice cream, tea and other pro- cessed products. Intrigued by the project, he said yes, and ded- icated a half-acre of his Browns- ville property to the berry. Since then, he and Thomp- son have worked closely, work- ing together to grow out selec- tions and evaluate varieties. They’re looking for traits like yield, flavor, disease resis- tance, upright habit, a large and firm berry and a dense fruit set pattern. “It’s been very exciting to be able to work with her,” says Kawai. So far, the fruit is still too soft and irregularly dispersed for machine harvesting, which means harvest labor costs are a significant barrier to wide- spread commercial adoption. Lindevineyard supply • Trellising • Fencing • Pruning • Harvest 866-966-3597 13005 S. Pacific Hwy. • Monmouth, Oregon LindeVineyardSupply.com ONV17-2/#7 ONV17-7/#7
