Saskatoons are in Season across the Prairies

It drives me crazy to see fruit hanging from a branch and to realize that I have already picked more Saskatoons than I need.  While on vacation, my husband and I picked all the Saskatoons that we could possibly use over the winter in about 2 hours.  The berries are as big as any I have seen and are so clean.  It took only 15 minutes to pick through them and discard the bad berries (of which there were so few that it was hardly worth the time it took).  I see Saskatoon scones, pies, jam and crumbles on the table in the months ahead.

Picking Saskatoons always reminds me of growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan.  Every summer, usually near the beginning of August, I, along with my 5 siblings, were packed into the car and off we went to find a Saskatoon patch.  We would spend what felt like hours filling our homemade tin buckets with berries.  It seemed like such a chore back them.  Now, I can’t wait to get out there and pick all the free berries I can.   Although a time-consuming process, picking Saskatoons is well worth the effort.  They are small, purplish-blue berries with a taste a bit like almonds, but sweeter.  Saskatoons grow in almost all of the Canadian provinces.  There are at least 20 species of Saskatoons, with at least 8 varieties within those species.  Some varieties grow on tall 10 to 15-foot bushes and some grow on short 1-foot bushes.  Some berry species are larger than others.  They seem to grow in valleys and along rivers (if you have ever walked along the river pathways in Saskatoon, you can see them growing everywhere). There’s an abundance of them along the Saskatchewan River in Edmonton and the Bow River in Alberta.   They also grow on hillsides and along the side of roads anywhere on the prairies and throughout BC.  

Try my canned Saskatoon recipe to preserve these delicious and nutritious berries for winter eating. You can also find my recipe for Saskatoon scones under the recipe section on the website. My sister-in-law said when she tried my Saskatoon pie that it was the best pie she had ever tasted. My recipe for Saskatoon pie is coming soon so stay tuned.

As of today the Saskatoon pie recipe is on the website under dessert.