Staff Favourites 2026/2027
Staff Favourites 2026/2027
Throughout the season, we sample all sorts of fruits from our orchard and each staff member chooses one of their favourites. Considerations include the obvious such as taste/texture/aroma/etc, along with other traits like ease of growing with minimal care. We are offering a 20% discount on each staff favourite to encourage people to try growing these amazing varieties too!
Note that Staff Favourites do not qualify for the usual quantity discounts since they are already 20% off.
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2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Becker currants are Jenni's favourite this year! In her words: “What I enjoy most is turning these currants into a homemade cordial. Their bold, tangy taste creates a rich syrup that captures the essence of summer. Mixed with chilled bubbly water, the cordial becomes an incredibly refreshing drink—crisp, lightly sweet, and bursting with distinctive flavour. It's simple to make and super packed with Vitamin C which helps boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and support heart health. For me, Becker red currants represent a way of preserving something delicious, and they transform an ordinary glass of sparkling water into a refreshing treat!”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Ribes rubrum
History: These red currants come from the Becker family homestead near Wellesley, Ontario where we are located. This is a great way to try something truly local!
Why We Grow It: In our experience, Becker red currants are reliable and productive. The fruit produced by Becker red currants are larger than those produced by Red Lake and make a wonderful juice. They can also be used for cooking and baking, such as the tarts made by Steph that are pictured here!
2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Black Velvet is Wayne's favourite this year! He has been waiting a while to select this variety as his personal favourite: "Black Velvet was what I had hoped to choose as my staff favourite last year, but we didn’t have any to sell! This year we do, and it’s my favourite of our gooseberries - I find it’s a little sweeter and more flavourful; really great for fresh eating.”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Ribes uva-crispa x Ribes divaricatum
History: There appears to be little information on the origin of Black Velvet. It is a hybrid between the European gooseberry (R. uva-crispa) and the closely related worcesterberry (R. divaricatum), a plant native to North America. As a result of its mixed parentage, Black Velvet has unique characteristics such as dark-skinned fruit, excellent disease resistance, and notable cold hardiness.
Why We Grow It: Black Velvet produces large numbers of dark reddish-purple berries with an excellent, fruity flavour that isn't too tart. It is great for fresh eating as well as making jams and jellies. This is an easy to grow plant with good cold hardiness and disease resistance.
2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Chestnut is Steph's favourite this year! When reflecting on it, Steph said, “Every year I seem to discover a new (old) apple to marvel over, and most recently, Chestnut has stolen my heart. An unassuming little fruit with a unique netting of russet over its cheery yellow-blushing-red skin. Bite in and enjoy the classic nutty, sweet-tart russet taste with crunchy dense flesh at least a month before most other russets are ripe. In sum, an excellent early season russet worthy of any orchard.”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
History: Chestnut crabapples were bred at the University of Minnesota in 1949. They are one of about thirty varieties that have been produced by the university's breeding program since it started in 1888.
Why We Grow It: The rosy-red Chestnut crabapple produces fruit that is unusually large for a crabapple with a nutty taste. Unlike other crabapples, it is sweet enough to eat fresh and can be used in cider while still being good for traditional crabapple recipes such as making jellies.
2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Comfrey is Jodi's favourite this year! As Jodi says, “I love watching my honeybees and various bumblebees visiting comfrey flowers. Not only does this plant support pollinators, it can be used to create living mulch (plant it 3-4’ away from a tree) and compost teas, and has herbal/medicinal uses too. Our comfrey does not spread by seed, so the patch is easy to contain.”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Symphytum sp.
History: Comfrey plants are native to various continents around the world including Europe, Asia, and North America. Common names such as boneset and knitbone and its genus name referencing the Greek 'symphis' meaning 'growing together of bones' indicates it may have been used medicinally for mending bones. Comfrey is now popular as a permaculture plant. Our comfrey comes from a patch that has been on the property we rent for years and years, so we unfortunately do not know what variety it is. As far as we can tell, it does not spread via seed.
Why We Grow It: This classic permaculture plant grows incredibly deep tap roots, mining rich nutrients from deep below the soil surface. It's a living mulch that 'molts' 3-4 times each season. It's used in traditional medicine and creates a healthful compost tea full of calcium and potassium. It grows up to 70 cm tall, before molting down, and spreads slowly over the years. As an added benefit, both honey bees and bumble bees love visiting the blossoms too! While we do not know what variety our comfrey is, it does not appear to spread via seed.
2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Heritage raspberries are Amanda's favourite this year! She picked them because they are "award winning and everbearing! Heritage can be harvested from June to September and produces fruit in its first year. A great choice for anyone who can't get enough raspberries!"
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Rubus sp.
History: Heritage raspberries were developed by Cornell University in New York and introduced in 1969. It is one of the most widely grown raspberry varieties in the world due to the quality of its fruit and its extended bearing season. This variety is considered the standard for everbearing varieties and in 2004 it even received the Outstanding Fruit Cultivar Award from the American Society of Horticultural Sciences.
Why We Grow It: On top of the accolades mentioned above, these medium-sized red berries can also be harvested within the first year! You can enjoy them fresh or in baked goods, or freeze, dry, or preserve them to enjoy in the winter months. We find these to be sweeter than Nova, but with a milder flavour and slightly crumbly texture. The canes are thorny so exercise caution when working around this variety! You can cut down the canes in the winter for a large fall crop, or enjoy a more spread out crop from June to September. We have found cutting the patch down annually also helps with borer problems.
The second product photo shows Nova (right) compared to Heritage (left).
The third photo shows a Heritage and Nova raspberry tart Steph made!
2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Snow is Mouse's favourite this year! In their eyes, “Snow is a standout Canadian heritage variety! This cold hardy apple is named for its snow-white flesh and it has a distinctively sweet flavour. For fans of Canadian and/or heritage apples, Snow apples are often a favourite!”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
History: Snow, aka Fameuse, apples originated near Lake Champlain in Quebec some time before the 1730s. The exact origin is unclear but this variety is thought to have originated from a seedling or cutting brought from France. From about 1750-1850, this was one of the most commonly grown apples in Quebec until the orchards were almost wiped out in the latter half of the 19th century by disease and failed to regain their popularity. However, these lovely apples may still be with us in their own way as they are one of the potential parents of McIntosh.
Why We Grow It: It is easy to see why Snow apples were once so popular. These apples have a lovely deep red skin with pure white flesh with a sweet strawberry flavour. These trees are also quite cold hardy and produce heavy crops.
2026/2027 Staff Favourite
Our sunchokes are Zack's favourite this year! Zack has this to say about our OG sunchoke tubers: “It blows my mind how fast sunchokes grow. This particular variety has produced stalks almost 20ft high in two different locations for multiple years now. Though its tuber size is nothing to write home about, its stalk size sure is! I wonder about the soil-building potential of these giants! Not having to replant these edible tubers is such a blessing, but beware if you want to get rid of them.”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Helianthus tuberosus, Sunchokes are also known as Jerusalem Artichokes or J Chokes
History: Sunchokes are native to central North America and have traditionally been cultivated by indigenous peoples for their edible tubers. European colonizers sent samples back to Europe where it became naturalized. It has fallen into obscurity in North America but there was some success in marketing it commercially in the 1990s and 2000s. These sunchokes are the first ones we started offering here at Silver Creek Nursery! Although we do not know what variety (if any) they are, they have done quite well for us in our front garden and have been a tasty part of many staff meals over the years!
Why We Grow It: These native plants produce tasty root tubers that, like potatoes, can be prepared and eaten in a variety of ways including raw, roasted, or treated like sauerkraut. Most people can eat them no problem, but some folks do find they can get mildly gassy if they enjoy too much at a time, so if you have never eaten them before, moderation is advised. They are in the sunflower family so get quite tall and produce lovely little yellow flowers. They spread vigorously as well, and should be managed (easily done with mowing or hand pulling in summer).
The pictures on the left show Zack standing in front of the sunchoke patch by our front office! The photo was taken Aug. 7th, 2026 and they are already quite tall, but they will continue growing until they flower in September.