Sunberry the Wonderberry

I love fruits but the hard thing about growing fruits is you usually have to wait several years after planting before you get edible fruits from the bush or tree. However earlier this year I came across one that can be grown from seed in one season. It's called a sunberry. I planted three plants and they have grown like crazy. So far they have had no pest or disease problems and seem to require average water. I also have some scarlet runner beans that are growing through them and it doesn't seem to bother them one bit. They are also planted pretty close together.

My son accidentally dragged the water hose over the plants yesterday and I realized that some of the berries were ripe. The berries closest to the ground ripen before the outer ones and they hide under the leaves. They are smaller than a blueberry and deep purple in color when ripe. They do take awhile to pick as they are so small. I picked about 1/2 lb in 20 minutes. When eaten fresh they have a slight citrus flavor. Ok, but not outstanding. I checked online to see what could be done with them and found they could be cooked just like blueberries. So I made these beautiful muffins from a recipe I found on Yahoo.

They were amazing. The flavor was just like perfect sweet blueberries. I don't know if anyone could tell the difference if I had a taste test with a blueberry muffin. These are just amazing plants and it's definitely something I will grow again next year.