The tastiest berry in the world is the boysenberry for most chefs and home cooks. The deep sweet tart blend wins flavor tests time and time again. The best tasting berries lists put it next to alpine strawberry and wild blueberry as top picks.
I tasted my first ripe boysenberry from my own patch in 2018. The fruit was sun warm. The juice ran down my hand. The taste hit me as a blend of raspberry and blackberry. But it had a wine like deep note that raspberry on its own can never match.
Why does the boysenberry rank so high on every berry flavor ranking out there? The fruit packs four parent flavors in one bite. Raspberry brings the bright top. Blackberry adds the dark base. Dewberry tosses in a wild zing. Loganberry doubles the first two. Your tongue gets a stacked taste in just one berry.
The science backs up the love. Boysenberries hold a lot of anthocyanin. These pigments add a deep fruit note. The sugar to acid ratio sits at a sweet spot of 1.7 to 1. That mix gives you balance. Not too sweet. Not too sour. Just right for sweet tart berries fans.
Aroma plays a huge role in taste too. Boysenberries have 20 plus ester compounds that give them their wine like smell. Pure raspberries have only about half that count. Each ester adds a tiny note that builds depth in your mouth.
Other top picks for flavor are worth a try as well. Alpine strawberries, known as fraises des bois in France, pack a heavy perfume punch. Japanese white strawberries cost $10 per berry but taste like cream and pineapple. Wild Maine blueberries beat farm grown ones by a wide margin in tests.
I will be honest with you here. The store bought boysenberry never hits the same high mark. You need to pick the fruit at peak ripe to get the real taste. The dark maroon black color is your cue. A red berry has not yet hit its sweet peak.
Pick your berries when fully ripe. The fruit should fall off the cane with the slightest tug. Let them warm up to room temp before you eat them. Cold dulls the flavor and locks up the aromas. A warm boysenberry gives you the full taste range.
Skip the big chain store for premium berry varieties. The fruit there is picked early to ship well. You lose flavor for shelf life. Try a farmers market in July or August. Or plant your own crown for fresh fruit each summer. Try a thornless cultivar like Newberry for a smooth pick.
Read the full article: Boysenberry Plant Growing Guide
