A BERRY HAPPY ACCIDENT

This month David Patch explores the fascinating history of hybrid berries and highlights some of his favourite varieties

- David Patch

The word ‘hybrid’ can bring with it some negative connotations when it comes to food crops. It conjures up images of some Frankenstein’s monster of a plant, perhaps with a dash of genetic modification, all carried out by an anonymous corporate monolith more interested in marketing and profit than taste and flavour.

But for thousands of years, farmers and gardeners have been manipulating and interfering with nature, from the earliest practices of saving only seeds from favoured plants to the present situation where universities and organisations engage in extensive and highly complex plant breeding programmes. The results have undoubtedly changed the face of gardening and fruit production – if you only had the option of planting strawberry varieties from the 1800s, you’d be shaking your head at the meagre crops from disease-ridden plants.

Despite this, the notion that ‘Mother Nature knows best’ or that a heritage variety from centuries past is intrinsically better than a more recent arrival still holds sway. Hybrid berries, mainly the results of crossing raspberries and blackberries, seem to suffer from this stigma and are hugely underrated. However, they have a long and interesting history – the first hybrids were more the result of accident and nature rather than design – and to my mind they thoroughly deserve to be better understood and more widely planted. This month we will have a look at the various hybrids on offer, and I’ll try and pick out some of my favourites which are well worth trying.

LOGANBERRY