10+ Cold Climate Fruits

If you know me, I love fruit. Obscure and interesting fruit in particular. So today I wanted to share some of my favorite fruits for northern climates!

While I have only grown some of these so far, I thought this would be a fun list to inspire you all to look these up and grow them yourselves.

Brambles

Brambles (also called “cane fruits”) refers to anything in the Rubus genus. This includes blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries, golden raspberries, and hybrids such as tayberry or boysenberry.

Brambles are incredible fruit with not only an amazing flavor punch, but also a lot of essential vitamins and minerals. They also provide an energy source in a small package!

I have had several brambles and most of them have been amazing. A few favorites in terms of flavor are:

Thimbleberries - A flat wide pink-red berry with thornless canes and broad leaves. Tastes like a tangy raspberry with a more intense “warm” flavor.

Anne’s Yellow Gold Raspberries - This is a sweet raspberry variety with a very pleasant golden color.

Black Raspberry - A small black colored raspberry with a jam-like flavor. Very different from a typical raspberry but absolutely delicious.

Brambles tend to spread quite easily and are easily propagated from cutting.

(Note: I have also had American and European dewberries and while both are mediocre in comparison, they are still good to eat and bake with)

Mulberry

Mulberries grow wild in parts of North America and are an early-producing fruit. I have only ever had wild ones but they’re good enough that I go out looking for them in June!

They have a sweet (sometimes very mild) flavor and look like an ugly blackberry. These trees also grow well from cuttings and are loved by livestock.

There are improved varieties of mulberry on the market as well. Some look more elongated, some are lighter in color, and all of them vary in flavor!

(One I have on my personal list is the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry)

Apples

We talked about apples earlier this summer. They are a classic fruit with so many uses and flavors that they’re almost a staple for any homestead or permaculture site.

Everyone praises the Honeycrisp or Macintosh as being the best tasting apples. While they are good, I strongly recommend trying other more obscure varieties! The best apple I’ve ever had personally is a wild apple.

I have heard great things about Gravenstein apples, and Newtown Pipin apples and some of the older heirlooms are also good! (Try the Rubayat, King David, or Stayman Winesap for fresh eating, Cox’s Orange Pipin, Golden Russet, and Northern Spy for cider making)

Give other varieties a try. I think you’ll find that many are better than the store-bought varieties!

Persimmons

Persimmons are a fruit that’s making a comeback in America.

These fruits are fairly large (think apple-sized) and are soft and sweet. The flavor tends to remind me of something that pairs well with cinnamon, vanilla, and fall desserts. I’ve heard people describe it as “honey-like” with a “creamy” or “smooth” quality which is pretty accurate!

Persimmon can be eaten fresh, dried, or baked in desserts, made into jams, fermented. All your typical fruit stuff. Be sure to only eat ripe persimmons though as most varieties are very astringent (it leaves an unpleasant dry feeling in your mouth) I learned that the hard way! Some varieties are non-astringent though so they can be sweet even when underripe.

There are two main types of persimmons. Tropical, and American. The tropical kinds are originally from Asia, the American ones are native to North America. Asian types are the most common to find in stores and have a slightly smoother tight skin that is reminiscent of an orange tomato. The American kinds are a lot softer and are covered in a hazy yeast bloom. These tend to have more of a jam-like texture to them!

There are also some older and heirloom persimmon varieties out there, so give them a try!

NOTE: This is a tree I haven’t grown yet! I have the Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro and Elmo American varieties on my list.

Goji berry

Goji (or wolfberry) is a plant I can’t wait to do an entire newsletter on.

There are two species usually referred to as goji berry: Lycium barbarum, and L. Chinense and both are in the nightshade (tomato) family.

L. barbarum is much better for eating fresh, while L. chinense tastes fairly bad and is mostly for medicinal purposes (although drying them can significantly change the flavor).

There is another more uncommon species that I saw pop up recently called the “Black Goji” (which I believe to be L. ruthenticum) that is supposedly very sweet, but I haven’t grown or tried it yet.

The only fresh goji I had was slightly underripe and tasted like a weird red bell pepper (not necessarily pleasant) but in all honesty I have no idea which species that was! But as long as you expect the berry to be more of a savory and medicinal fruit, I think you’ll enjoy them.

Goji has some tremendous health benefits, and can produce fruit in just the second year of growth (which is impressive as far as fruiting plants go) and to top it off they have been known to survive zone 3.

On my list I have the “black goji”, and “Crimson Star”.

Elderberry

We’ve also talked about Elderberry before! These are a great berry to have no matter where you are. There are now varieties that can grow in every state of the US!

While these berries aren’t really the best tasting when fresh, they are incredibly medicinal. Elderberry is making a comeback in the US and more and more medical professionals are accepting them as a profound medicine! (This has been known by ancient peoples and homesteaders for generations, but it’s nice to see them gaining mainstream popularity).

I recommend the Bob Gordon, Wyldwood, and York varieties for most Midwest growers. Read more about elderberry here.

Strawberries

Strawberries are a classic that we often overlook. They are bright, flavorful, and one of the earlier fruits in the garden. I wrote an article about strawberries recently for you to read!

What people don’t know is how much variety there is in the strawberry world!

On top of the wide range of classic red strawberries, there are white strawberries (pineberries for example) and a whole separate class of strawberries called “Alpine” strawberries.

The one thing to keep in mind with strawberries is ripening time.

Ideally, you want to have strawberries that ripen at different times to extend the season as much as possible. Right now, I have two strawberries. One fruits for three weeks in June and is done for the year (June-bearing) and the other fruits less at a time but the whole summer long (Day-neutral). There are others that will fruit twice a year, so make sure to plan your strawberry patch to stagger the harvests.

I have Sparkle, Seascape, Earliglo, Marshall, Profunata Musk, Tristar, White Soul Alpine, Alexandria Alpine, and Honeoye on my personal list.

Seaberry

Seaberry (also called “sea buckthorn”) is a fruiting shrub from Eastern Europe. While this plant has been considered invasive in some coastal areas, I have not seen mine spread enough to even out-compete the grass in my area.

I have not yet gotten fruit on mine, but I do have one! The berries taste like a tart citrusy tang that pack a punch with essential fatty acids and vitamin C. (The vitamin C content is MUCH higher than citrus!)

These are pretty low-maintenance plants and once established are even unphased by salt spray and poor soils.

There are some thorns on the shrub (although there is a thornless variety) and it needs both a male and a female to produce fruit (1 male per 7-8 females).

I’m looking forward to getting fruit in a year or two when I can replace my dead male!

The variety I have is called “Golden Sweet” and the thornless one is called “Mary”.

Figs

Figs are a fruit we don’t really taste in colder climates. I’ve never had one fresh and I’ve certainly never seen one in the store!

While they generally are for warmer climates, there actually are a handful of cold hardy figs! These are an interesting one because you are technically not eating the fruit but the inverted flowers!

Figs are also self-pollinating for this exact reason.

I have a two year old fig in my garden and while it seems to survive winters just fine, I haven’t gotten any fruit yet either.

Figs are very easy to grow from cuttings since they root easily and are pretty forgiving of conditions. We’ll see how well mine does in the coming years!

I have the “Chicago Cold Hardy” variety. I have heard that “LSU Purple”, “Brown Turkey”, and “Texas Everbearing” all do well in zones 6 and 7.

Pawpaw

Pawpaw is another one we talked about a few months ago. This is an amazing fruit that really needs more love. I ate so many this season I’m surprised I didn’t make myself sick!

I have foraged a lot of wild pawpaws, but I have yet to grow saplings to fruit!

They have a custardy, smooth, banana-like flavor that’s infused with tropical flavors. Some pawpaws even taste vaguely like mango!

These trees can be fairly easy to grow as long as you know some basic care tips for them. Download my pawpaw growing guide here!

I go over basic care and recommended varieties in my newsletter article on pawpaws here.

The varieties I have on my list currently are “Allegheny” and “KSU Benson”.

Haskap

Haskap (also called “honeyberry”) is another fruit I’m very excited about! These small berries taste like a more flavorful and complex blueberry but with a juicy texture rather than a pulpy one.

They require cross-pollination, so it’s important to get two varieties that bloom around the same time!

I have three shrubs right now and they’ve done quite well in their first year. I even got a couple fruits on one of them! They really do taste good even at this early stage. I could see them being amazing in baking, juices, and jams.

There are MANY types of haskap out there, so in case you’re overwhelmed just get the ones I did. I chose mine specifically for fresh eating flavor, size, and production.

Supposedly they propagate easily and are pretty low maintenance which seems to be the case with the ones I have.

The varieties I have are: “Boreal Blizzard”, “Beast” and “Aurora”.

Stone Fruit

Stone fruit refers to anything in the “Prunus” genus. This includes plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, and any hybrid between them!

These are incredible fruits for obvious reasons but people tend to forget that these are very much cold-climate fruits!

While there are always some pest and disease issues to consider, stone fruit are always worth the hassle in my opinion.

Some notes to consider:

• Try a hybrid like a nectaplum or a pluot. Sometimes they do better than the original fruits.

• Try growing some from seed! It can take a little while but the likelihood you get something worth eating is actually higher than you think.

• Select varieties that do well in your local climate. Not every apricot is created equal!

The stone fruits I have on my list include: “Flavortop”, and “Fantasia” nectarines, “Stark Saturn” peach, and the “Royalton Sweet” Cherry.

Currants

Last but not least we have the currant! A small and beautiful berry that is tart and tasty.

These are another berry that is fairly easy to grow and that actually do ok in partial shade.

There are many varieties of currants (pink, red, white, black) and some are easier to grow than others.

I personally love tart fruits, so this berry is a favorite of mine. They are good for jellies, preserves, juicing, fresh eating, and baking.

The ones I have on my list are “Primus White”, “Titania Black”, “Pink Champagne”, and “Red Lake”.

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