In An Effort To Save Pollinators In Europe...

Use of neonicatinoid pesticides has now been banned in the EU in an effort to stop the decimation of its bee populations:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-457_en.htm

Nutritional Analysis Of Tundra

Soon to be on the Haskap Canada website will be a comprehensive nutritional analysis of Tundra.  In addition to protein, fat, and carbohydrate compositions, this analysis also includes vitamins and minerals, as well as bioflavonoids, resveratrol, ORAC's, phenolics, and anthocyanins.  Tests were conducted by an independent lab.  Look for it in the Members Only section.

Haskap Berries, Antioxidant Capacity, Total Phenolic Content, And Health Benefits - A 2012 Study

Here is the abstract of a publication published in 2012 and covering antioxidants and phenolics in haskap:

Rupasinghe, H. P. V., Yu, L. J., Bhullar, K. S. and Bors, B. 2012. SHORT COMMUNICATION: Haskap (Lonicera caerulea): A new berry crop with high antioxidant capacity. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 1311 1317. This study evaluated the antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content as well as total flavonoid content of three haskap (Lonicera caerulea) cultivars, Borealis, Indigo Gem and Tundra, grown in Saskatchewan in comparison with six other commercial fruits using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, the aluminum chloride colorimetric method and the Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively. The results indicate that haskap berries, especially cv. Borealis possessed the highest antioxidant capacities and total phenolic contents, specifically total flavonoid among tested fruits, and could be used as a promising fruit source of natural antioxidants. The nutritional values of the fruits were also assessed using proximate analysis.  Strawberry possessed the highest amount of most minerals and nutrients, whereas the nutritional values for the three haskap cultivars were average.

To read the entire study for free go to either: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1.1&thid=13ec7e461f50d582&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D8580447990%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13ec7e461f50d582%26attid%3D0.1.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbSrt5fySeU181oHsdaapwHDPVfS5A

or

http://ebookbrowse.com/haskap-a-new-berry-crop-with-high-antioxidant-capacity-2012-pdf-d463292541

Capriofoliaceae Lonicera

Family Capriofoliaceae (cap-ri-fol-i-a-ce-ae)

2 leaves upon emergence

This designation places haskap within a larger grouping of plants that are commonly known as honeysuckles.  This group comes from a common ancestor, along with all of its descendants (a clade).  All of these plants have two leaves upon emergence from the seed  (dicotyledonous) and are flowering plants.  There is a substantial amount of good information available on the internet about this family, Caprifoliacea (wiki), or  http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/caprifol.htm.  Information is also available in good botany textbooks.

Species Lonicera (Lo-ni-ce-ra)

Most species of Lonicera are hardy twining climbers, with a large minority of shrubby habit; a handful of species...are tender and can only be grown outside in subtropical zones. The leaves are opposite, simple oval, 1–10 cm long; most are deciduous but some are evergreen. Many of the species have sweetly-scented...flowers that produce a sweet, edible nectar, and most flowers are borne in clusters of two (leading to the common name of "twinberry" for certain North American species). Both shrubby and vining sorts have strongly fibrous stems which have been used for binding and textiles. The fruit is a red, blue or black spherical or elongated berrycontaining several seeds; in most species the berries are mildly poisonous, but in a few they are edible and grown for home use and commerce. Most honeysuckle berries are attractive to wildlife. Many species of Lonicera are eaten by the larvae of some moths and butterflies.  http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?6947 

Toxonomy, The Grouping Of Organisms With Common Characteristics

Many academic disciplines make use of the word, taxonomy including: education, business, chemistry, and biology, although the term is not limited to these fields.  Emerging from the Latin word meaning to rank or appraise, biologic taxonomy endeavours to make more explicit the relationship of one biological organism to another.  There are several approaches by which scientists may do this.  The standard rank ordering of plants and animals includes the categories: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.  In the case of haskap, they are a part of the larger kingdom of plants, and narrows down to lonicerea...edible blue honeysuckle - a specific grouping (i.e. a species) which is distinguishable by certain readily recognizable characteristics that are common to any and all of these plants.  Furthermore, different varieties exist within this species...Tundra, Borealis, etc..

Understanding This Plant (Pt.1)

Other than what is on the internet, there is really a dearth of scientific information that has been gathered into one place about our lowly haskap plants.  In light of this, I suggest that we work through the only technical site out there...Russia's Agro Atlas.  What insights can common growers glean from this site?  Over the next several posts we will find out...

Here is the link to the Interactive Agricultural Ecological Atlas of Russia and Neighboring Countries: www.agroatlas.ru/cultural/Lonicera_K_en.htm

More Evidence Berries Have Health-Promoting Properties

Adding more color to your diet in the form of berries is encouraged by many nutrition experts. The protective effect of berries against inflammation has been documented in many studies...

...you can read the whole study here at Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130421153459.htm