Unique berry variety packs a punch at this Simcoe County farm

Haskap berries and owner of Tiny Acres Kyle Belfry are shown in this split-screen image. (CTV News/Chris Garry)

Move over, blueberries and raspberries – there’s a new berry in town.

The haskap berry, rich in antioxidants and known for its extensive health benefits, is the berry of choice at this Simcoe County farm.

Tiny Acres, which launched in 2019, started growing haskap berries in 2021. The family property originally began with strawberries and through the generations, moved to blueberries and then, eventually, haskaps—which have become the farm’s biggest crop.

Haskaps are the colour of a blueberry and, according to owner Kyle Belfry, look like a kidney bean and taste like a cross between a blueberry and a raspberry. To know that they’re ripe, they should have a red, fleshy inside.

The haskap berry, popular in places like Siberia and Japan who call it the “berry of long life,” is considered among the highest antioxidant fruits in the world. It’s also on the superfruit list. Belfry says it’s four times healthier than a blueberry and has more vitamin C than an orange.

The variety grown at Tiny Acres comes from the University of Saskatchewan where they are bred to be some of the sweetest and more fruitful berries in the world.

Open for picking your own haskaps, the farm boasts 4,500 haskap plants that produce 40,000 pounds of the berry. Belfry says the farm also has raspberries, strawberries and blueberries but the haskaps have dominated.

“Here at Tiny Acres, it’s about experience,” says Belfry. “We like the kids to come out. Fill your face, come out with blue lips and purple hands.”

Belfry encourages people to not hesitate to try one.

“We’re big on taste-testing. Make sure you like what you’re getting,” he says.

Belfry says he has regular customers coming to his farm who won’t go a day without eating haskap berries, ever since they discovered the farm.

“What they tell us when they come back is, ‘We need it every day of our lives,’” Belfry says.

And while you’re picking, here’s a bonus: if you’re a bird lover, Belfry says the farm is filled with Cedar Waxwings, birds who go crazy for haskaps.

Priding themselves on family and community, the farm has raised more than $50,000 for Easter Seals Collingwood over the last two years.

Tiny Acres is currently open for haskap picking daily between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.