Ensenada Cruisers

You can add another name to the list of berries that are good for you. Blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, the goji. All are considered to have health-enhancing properties.

Now say hello to the haskap berry, from Nova Scotia, whose proponents claim it has three times the antioxidants of wild blueberries.

"Our want is to make Lunenburg County the centre of the haskap berry industry, just as Oxford is the blueberry capital of Nova Scotia," Logie Cassells told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald.

Cassells, a British financial consultant, is helping spearhead development of a haskap plantation on Nova Scotia land owned by LaHave Forests, Britain's largest timber distributor.

"The soil here is the best soil in the western world," said Cassells, now LaHave Forests' managing director.

LaHave has 243 hectares under cultivation on three farms and is seeking certification as a biodynamic operation, which means it uses no chemicals to build up the soil, only animal compost that graze on the land.

Haskap berries only grow in North America, Japan and Russia. Besides having three times the antioxidant levels of wild blueberries, they also have more vitamin C than an orange, and are ready to harvest two weeks before strawberries.

"And, at the end of the day, they taste good," said Cassells, adding haskaps tasted like a cross between a blueberry and a raspberry.

They are sold mainly in Japan, where they're prized for helping maintain eternal youth. Haskaps sell $30 per 500 grams and are given as high-end gifts, either as a wine or jam.

According to Cassells, Lunenburg County is ideal for raising the haskap plants, with a long growing season and no requirement for irrigation, yet the plants are hardy enough to survive Canadian winters.

Local foodies are already jumping on the haskap bandwagon.

The Wooden Monkey restaurant in Halifax uses the berries to make a fruit crisp, Nicki's Inn in Chester, N.S., developed a haskap berry cheesecake and Ironworks Distillery in Lunenburg will launch a haskap vodka later this year.