Save me: Can marionberry growers protect their precious berry?

If that marionberry from your farmers market has seemed to lack its usual juicy-sweet tang in recent years, you may have bitten into a berry impostor.

And Oregon’s estimated 900 marionberry growers are trying to defend themselves this summer from another such impostor attack.

Ticked that regular blackberries have been passed off as marionberries and lowered marionberry prices, growers have gotten the Oregon Department of Agriculture to develop a certification program to protect the state’s $13 million-a-year marionberry crop.

“I can’t estimate the percentage of fraudulent marionberries on the market last year,” says Mark May, president of Rainsweet Inc., a marionberry processor in Salem. “What I can say is, it was a very significant amount.”

There’s also a significant taste difference, says Diane Morgan, a Portland cookbook writer who prefers to drizzle fresh marionberries, rather than blackberries, on her grilled desserts. “I want a berry without the huge seeds,” Morgan says. “Marionberries have fewer seeds—more meat!”

The marionberry, just starting its seasonal appearance in farmers markets, dates to 1956 when Oregon State University’s George Waldo first bred the berry in Marion County, hence the name. Compared to blackberries, marionberries are harder to grow, transport poorly and yield fewer berries per acre. Yet marionberries’ unique sweetness make them highly sought.

Last year, growers received an average of 49 cents per pound for genuine marions, while blackberries yielded 42 cents per pound.

Don Sturm, owner of 100-acre Sturm’s Berry Farm in Corbett, says many blackberry varieties—like the sylvan or boysenberry—are so similar to marions in diameter and thorn size that they’re hard to distinguish.

Sturm and other growers say that extra supply of impostor berries has depressed marionberry prices—down from a high of 91 cents per pound in 1996. They got the state ag department in May and June to certify 96 growers and three processors by differentiating fields chiefly on leaf shape, color and maturity of the plant.

Each grower and processor gets a “Certified Oregon Marionberry” label, official verification papers and supporting documents that they’re dealing with legit marions.

If you’re buying a marionberry, you can look for that ODA-certified stamp on a marionberry box, says Dave Dunn, chairman of Oregon’s Raspberry and Blackberry Commission