Sunberry

Sunberry
(Solanum Burbankii)

The Sunberry is one of many hundreds of plants created by Luther Burbank at his farm in Santa Rosa, California.  Burbank’s work was extraordinarily broad ranging from potatoes to plums to daisies.  In 1905 he introduced a plant he described as a hybrid cross between two members of the nightshade family, Solanum villosum and Solanum guineense.  He called the plant a “Sunberry” and he sold the plant to a seed company which promptly re-named it “Wonderberry.”  From the outset the classification of the Sunberry was the subject of minor dispute.  Burbank strenuously maintained that the Sunberry was a new creation while a more skeptical view held it to be a smaller variant of the Garden Huckleberry (Solanum nigrum guineense).  Today the argument remains unsettled although most give Burbank his due in the Latin title “Burbankii.”

The Sunberry is a smallish, lanky plant with an unkempt habit.  Its flowers have five very small white-colored petals arranged in a wheel-like pattern that is characteristic of the Solanum family which includes potatoes and eggplant.   Sunberries are small perhaps one half or one third the size of a fat blueberry.  Plants bear four-to-eight berries in informal clusters with each berry ripening on a different schedule which makes harvesting a prolonged chore.

The flavor of a Sunberry is a tricky thing to describe. Eaten raw they are neither overtly fruity nor sweet.  They have a mild flavor akin to a wild currant.  They are much superior to a raw Garden Huckleberry which needs sugar and cooking to render it edible.

The Sunberry/Wonderberry never seemed to have caught on although it isn’t a difficult plant to grow.  Perhaps the very modest yields and tedious labor at harvest were factors.  Today the Sunberry is only a novelty amongst some heirloom gardeners such as members of Seed Savers.

Sunberries have naturalized in a few of my garden beds and I’m quite content to let them co-mingle with other crops.  They seem not to intrude on other plants and its tiny berries offer a tasteful small bite as I pick work around them.   Its curious that a 100 year old mild-manner plant with mild-tasting fruit should be overlooked in the way Sunberries have.  Perhaps if the fruit were grotesquely enlarged or if the taste were a loud blast we would all know them.  But a Sunberry it what it is.

In the early 1800s there was a popular phrase in American slang that went “that guy (gal) is a huckleberry guy(gal).”  It implied two things:  that the person was small or diminutive and that he (she) was just right for the task at hand.  In an interview in 1895 Mark Twain acknowledged this meaning in naming his creation “Huckleberry Finn”.  So while Luther Burbank might disagree I think its quite correct to say that “A Sunberry is a huckleberry of a plant.”

These Sunberries were organically grown in my garden in the Valley of the Moon,  Sonoma County, California.

C Lindquist
Vegetables of Interest, 2007

Comments

[Emily]

Thanks for the information on the Sunberry. It's the only helpful information I've been able to find. Somewhere else on the web it said the leaves and stems may be poisonous.

[Kim Hines]

You write beautifully and your photos are gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing your passion for plants and food in such a thoughtful, helpful way.

[viagra online]

They are much superior to a raw Garden Huckleberry which needs sugar and cooking to render it edible.

[cheap kamagra]

I have had a problem I am growing some tomato plants and they have started to die on me. I think this was deliberate can anyone tell me what would kill a plant that's in a liquid form and is also odourless

[Jordan Hydro]

I suppoes, Sunny spring afternoon, garden stone bench is a good place to study.

[Jenny]

Do you have any recipes for the sunberry. I have four plants that are covered in the berry but I need a recipe or ten. LOL

[Gary Ogden]

I was looking at seedsavers exchange and it says, said by its admires to rival and surpass blueberries does it taste like a blueberries?

[Nike Dunks]

Simple is beautiful ah! Your blog is very simple! But very unique! Especially your articles so good it! It is all too real attention! But you do friends I admire you

[natu]

sunberry tastes to me like a cross between tomato and blueberry. tomatoes are also members of the nightshade family, so this should come as no surprise.

[RamonGustav]

Congratulations! You have so much useful information, write more.

[Buy Viagra]

Tomatoes have many properties and vitamin and if you eat it frequently is sure you will see more beautiful because the tomatoes contain antioxidant that help the skin to stay young longer. In fact i read a blog some days ago and i knew all the properties of the tomatoes. That is why i talk to bases.

[Music_master]

Congratulations! You have so much useful information, write more.

[Hot_cialis]

cialis soft generic cialis soft order cialis soft tab description cialis soft tab india cialis soft tablets cialis soft tabs 10 mg cialis soft tabs bestseller cialis soft tabs online cialis soft top cialis softabs cialis softabs generic cialis softtab how works cialis softtabs online

[Antivirus_man]

I liked your site, you are very interesting to write. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[JOBS_frend]

You write well will be waiting for your new publications.

[school_dubl]

Happy New Year! The author write more I liked it.

[Hotjobs]

Happy New Year! The author write more I liked it.

[kamagra]

Thumbs up to your creativity, your way of writing, your narration, your intelligence and lastly your decision to write on this topic! Hats off man…keep it up.

[Golf Tips]

I certainly enjoyed the way you explore your experience and
knowledge of the subject! Keep up on it. Thanks for sharing the info

[Tore Holmlund]

I live in Sweden and find an auction on Tradera conserning thise Sunberries, and googled on the name and find this site whit lot of information, Thank you wery much fot that, and i am from Sweden and your surname is a wery common familyname here :)
Best regards / Tore Holmlund

[Carol]

I just planted some sunberries and actually traded my seedlings with neighbors for other plants. I got the sunberry seeds from Seed Savers in Decorah, IA but live in Silicon Valley. Do you know if the Sunberry needs anything special to thrive? I have one set doing well and others across the path are struggling. Please continue the thoughtful posts!

[web design]

You caught my interest here. I admire your post.

[alessandra]

does anyone know of a recipe? i just bought the seeds, cant wait to taste it!

[Dee Nusz]

in blender put a frozen bagful of sunberrys . blend partially thawed sunberrys with a banana and a little brown sugar plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon. makes a nice smoothie

[Dee Nusz]

i grew garden huckleberry and also the wonderberry or sunberry. frozen wonderberry sunberry mixed with blueberrys extends them . for the garden huckleberry i mixed 1 Tablespoon lemon juice with a tablespoon strawberry jam plus a 3 inch sprig of spearmint cooked with a little brown sugar. Tho this is very sweet the taste was not wonderful till i mixed it with apple crisp. gave it a nice adult flavor. seems both these berrys need mixing with other fruits to sweeten and flavor them. However, they are both purple berrys. I understand that the red foods repair the DNA.