Ain't Seen Muffin Yet: Sour Cream Muffins with Haskap Berries

One of my favourite ways to spend a Saturday morning in the summertime is a trip to the farmer's market. I like to pop down as soon as the market opens to pick up a few ingredients for the weekend, and maybe a few fresh-baked treats to take home for breakfast.

My local market at Withrow Park may not be quite as impressive as the larger markets in Toronto like the Brickworks or St Lawrence, but the handful of vendors selling fresh produce can always be counted on to bring a few unique locally-grown options that I can't find at the supermarket.

So far this year, I've scored bundles of fresh garlic scapes, tender baby leaves of red-veined sorrel, elegant white-tipped French breakfast radishes, sweet peas, and my newest obsession - tubs of gorgeous dark purple haskap berries from Farmer Jay at Danbrie Farms.

Honestly, I could happily just snack on these little purple jewels all day long, but the season is short and I wanted to find ways to make it last a little longer. So I've been playing around with a few ideas to keep them going long after the season is done.

The first of my experiments was these tender little sour cream muffins flavoured with just a little lemon zest and dotted all over with berries. They're light and fluffy and not too sweet, which makes them perfect for a quick weekday breakfast. You can make them with fresh berries, like I did, but they also work with frozen berries.

What's a Haskap Berry, Anyway?

Haskap is the name given to several varieties of edible honeyberries bred by the University of Saskatchewan over the last 15 years or so, which makes them an honest-to-goodness Canadian invention.

They look like a long, skinny blueberry, but they're actually more closely related to elderberries. They're soft-skinned and quite juicy, and have a sweet and surprisingly tangy flavour, kind of like a cross between a blueberry and a cranberry.

Haskap season runs from late June to mid-July, but fresh berries can be frozen for use at a later date.

To freeze, spread the berries out in a single layer on a baking sheet or jelly-roll pan, and pop into the freezer for a couple hours or until frozen all the way through, then transfer to a large freezer bag or airtight container. They'll keep in the freezer for up to a year.

Cooking with Haskaps

You can use haskaps pretty much anywhere you'd use fresh blueberries or other fresh summer berries, though in some recipes you may want to add a little extra sugar to compensate for their tartness.

Try them as a filling in pies or crumbles, stir them into your favourite cake or muffin recipe, add them to a smoothie, or cook them down into a simple sauce and then drizzle onto pancakes, ice cream or pretty much anything else your heart desires.

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