Postcards from Berry Camp
Illustration by Eben Dickinson
POSTCARDS FROM BERRY CAMP
Ashley Griffin
For Summer 2008
Growing up, my sisters and I would creep outside to the blueberry bushes in our backyard and sneak swelling berries past our eager lips before Mom realized we were stealing a vital ingredient for that night’s dessert. Quite often, we cleared those branches before she caught us in the act.
Years after my first foray into berry thievery, I again find myself perched in a position to snatch sweet, sun-ripened berries from the vine. Only this time, I am being encouraged to do so.
These tantalizing berries before me are not yet available to consumers. I am visiting the North Willamette Research and Extension Center with a diverse group of writers who received an invitation to attend a two-day berry camp centered on the history and future innovation of Oregon’s berry industry. Located just 20 miles south of Portland, the research center is our first stop of many, and a key one, as it will inform everything we learn about the industry from this stop forward.
As part of Oregon State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service, the staff conducts research focused on strengthening and sustaining communities, economies, and natural resources. One field of study focuses exclusively on berries, as evidenced by the berry plots that fan out from the center’s offices. It’s here that researchers test hundreds upon hundreds of berry cultivars as well as growing and harvesting techniques. Their goals: address changes in consumer taste and growing technology, and help push the margins of the berry industry forward to ensure that berries remain a food source in Oregon.
As we wander through the plots, our tour guide stops often to encourage sampling of the variety of new cultivars and crossbreeds growing in the plots. This early in the game — new cultivars can take more than a decade to make it to market — the staff has tagged them only with numbers, my favorite being cultivar 1523-4. Later, our guide says, they’ll receive names, which is how I learn that a blackberry is not just a blackberry.
Photo courtesy of the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission
In fact, it turns out that blackberries, or any other berry for that matter, labeled simply as blackberries at the grocer might be a Kotata or a Silvan or a Waldo blackberry. One breed might become beloved by consumers for harboring citrus notes, while another might eventually make its way to market because researchers have learned it resists disease or cold temperatures better than other cultivars, thus giving it great appeal for berry farmers.
Moments later, we get a chance to weigh in on future berry cultivars when our guide leads us to a small room where she’s prepared a berry buffet. Before us are 20 bowls of luscious berries, each containing a different cultivar. We sample them all and then rate their flavors on a simple scorecard. Later, the staff will compile the data from our tasting and see which cultivar came out on top. They’ll use taste tests like these, as well as studies on the other determining characteristics of potential cultivars, to help advise small farmers as to which cultivars will be best for growing, fresh market sales, and processing.
The next morning, we pay a visit to one such farm just outside Hood River. Anticipating more berry tasting, we’re surprised to arrive at a dismal scene: The 100-degree days that preceded our camp left much of the farmer’s crop sunburned. Ideal temperatures for growing raspberries range from 75 to 85 degrees, thus the pickers have started the harvest early to save what remaining raspberries they can. However, the farmer isn’t surprised. Berry growing is as much of a gamble as playing the slots in Las Vegas, he says, thus reminding us of the need for research to develop breeds that can better resist the elements, be they heat waves, colder-than-normal temperatures, or disease.
In Oregon, berries that triumph over the elements likely head to a place like our next stop, the Scenic Fruit Company processing facility. In Oregon, more than 500 growers work with about 20 Oregon processors to ensure that sun-ripened berries are packed fresh within hours of harvest. Only 5% of the local berry crop is marketed as fresh berries, while the remaining 95% is processed for year-round availability using the Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) method.
At the Scenic Fruit Company, we watch from the sidelines as the staff moves flats of Marionberries from the docking area to a conveyor belt, where nimble-fingered workers separate premium berries from bad berries and brambles. Next, the berries head to the freezer and then to the packaging room, giving consumers like us a chance to enjoy and support this vital Oregon industry throughout the year.
But for now, at the height of summer, we have the chance to indulge in eating berries fresh every day. This year, let’s take the time not only to enjoy our local crop, but also to regard what we eat as more than just a “blackberry” or “raspberry.” We can question vendors at farmers’ markets about the different cultivars and discover our own favorites. We can explore berry-based industries, be they producers of jams, gelatos or liqueurs, and appreciate the impact the berry industry has on our local economy. And we can acknowledge the path each berry takes from the research station to the farm to the market to our tables, where we enjoy them as berry crisp, homemade ice cream, or simply served in a bowl — fresh, juicy and unadorned.
Ashley Griffin is a Portland-based freelance writer who has also written for Portland Monthly, Northwest Palate and The Oregonian.
