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Creating new cultivars of fruit is science mixed with art and a dash of luck, coming together to create new plants with specific characteristics. Blackberries are selected based on how their canes grow (trailing or erect), with or without thorns, and the flavor, color, durability, and yield of the fruit, as well as traits to thrive in certain environments. 

 

Chad Finn, dedicated his career at OSU to these little berries and what makes them the way they are. He wrote scores of journal articles about berries and held 11 patents for new berry cultivars. Big Jalm has used several of the berries that he created, including Hall’s Beauty, also called the Columbia Beauty blackberry.

 

The Columbia Beauty is “a new, early-ripening, high-quality, firm, and sweet thornless trailing blackberry (Rubus subg. Rubus Watson(source))", first patented in 2017. Dr. Finn created a marionberry that is sweeter, plumper, and easier to pick.

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When we cooked it into jalm, it took on a characteristic we never expected. Upon tasting it the first time, Carl exclaimed, “This is pie!” The richness of the flavor, the firm, whole berries throughout, even the buttery flavor and crisp of the crust are all present with no fat, no dairy, and no flour. 

 

Try Columbia Beauty Blackberry Big Jalm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or mixed into a quinoa salad.

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Collected at South Barlow Berries in Canby, OR