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The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

March 15, 2014 by Valerie Lugonja 14 Comments

A Regional Canadian Food: The Coveted Saskatoon Berry

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

This is a Slow Food Canadian Ark of Taste food. The Ark of Taste travels the world collecting small-scale quality productions that belong to the cultures, history and traditions of the entire planet: an extraordinary heritage of fruits, vegetables, animal breeds, cheeses, breads, sweets and cured meats. The Ark was created to

  • point out the existence of these products,
  • draw attention to the risk of their extinction within a few generations,
  • invite everyone to take action to help protect them.

In some cases this might be by buying and consuming them, in some by telling their story and supporting their producers, and in others, such as the case of endangered wild species, this might mean eating less or none of them in order to preserve them and favor their reproduction. When I was young, wild Saskatoon berries could be found in abundance along almost any and every side road up and down rural Alberta. No more. They are indigenous to our region, a very special regional Canadian food, but the importance of the wild Saskatoon berries to our regional food heritage and culture most definitely requires attention as urbanization is depleting our source. Farmed Saskatoon berries are much more common now. People go to u-pick berry farms and pick them or buy them there or at farmer’s markets. These are a bigger berry with a rounder flavour. There are many varieties of farmed Saskatoon berries and each has its own unique flavour profile. The wild ones are smaller with a more vivid, intense flavour and the seed imparts a faint breath of almond.

Oh, and if you think these taste like blueberries, you are wrong. Why do people compare Saskatoons to blueberries? It is like comparing a raspberry to a strawberry. The only thing they have in common is their colour, almost. And their shape. Kind of. They are nothing like blueberries. Saskatoons sing. They are clear and concise and wild and loud and strong and free.

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

The name itself is derived from the Cree word “Mis-sask-quah-too-mina”, sounding very similar to “Saskatoon”. The city of Saskatoon was actually named after the berry. The berries were a staple for both Aboriginal people and early settlers. They were enjoyed fresh, or steamed and mashed and then left to dry into a brick-like consistency to enjoy over the long winter. Pieces of these berry-bricks were then chipped off as needed and added to soups, stews, mixed with fat or simply boiled to reconstitute them. An excellent read about the history and the health benefits of the berry is here.

Mid July to the end of July are usually when these berries are ripe for the plucking in my neck of the woods. The bushes blossom in May and some berries are ready to pick by the end of June, but most at the end of July. By the end of the first week of August, these berries are finished. I do have some in my back yard, but go crazy when I get a call from a friend that they have found a patch ready for the plucking alongside their farm or on a country road. I drop everything and go. That is just the way it used to be. This was such a precious berry favoured by everyone and stocking up for the winter meant dropping whatever you were doing and getting your berries picked when the time was right.

The quintessential celebratory Saskatoon berry dish after plucking the bushes bare is that bowl of cold washed berries with thick, heavy farm cream. No sugar required. Just the berries clinging to that thick cow cream on an old farm spoon. Oh my. Oh my. Grandma did know how to celebrate the mosquito bites and prickle bush scratches after a long picking and after one bite, everyone knew it was so worth it all.

This past summer, mom and dad were over for a barbeque in our yard at the end of July to celebrate Vanja’s birthday. Dad looked over at the Saskatoon bushes laden with sun-hot purple ripe berries and said, “Hey, you’d better get those picked before the birds eat them on you!” Knowing that these are my dad’s all time favourite berry, I pulled down a branch and plucked a large handful and poured them into his hand. His eyes lit up just like a little child offered candy as he tipped his head back and trickled them all into his mouth. Those were the last fresh off the tree Saskatoon berries my dad ever had. Of course, I didn’t know it at that time, but I did know I would never forget how the back of his throat purred as he uttered that somewhat gutteral, “MMMmmmmm!” while savouring them. I always got such pleasure feeding my dad as he showed such appreciation and loved great food. That is probably why I love making Saskatoon berry pies. They are famous in these parts, because everyone loves them, but my dad really-really-really loved them and it always made me happy to see his eyes light up when he was given a slice of warm-out-of-the-oven fragrant Saskatoon berry pie with some vanilla ice cream. My mom always made the best, but now I do, thanks to her guidance.

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

If I was really on the ball, I would have Saskatoon berry ice cream with the warm pie. That is really the only way I like it. Saskatoon berries are delicious with heavy farm cream, but for some reason, the flavour of the berries in ice cream is muted and not at all as pronounced as the colour. I have yet to make a sorbet with the berries which I am certain will sing their song.

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon BerryThe Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

A couple of years ago, after returning from a summer in France eyeing and adoring the French raspberry tart, I came home with a mission. I created a simply divine recipe for a fresh Saskatoon berry French tart that I can hardly wait to make each season since and I can promise you that this is a new family recipe that is tradition in our house now. These fresh berries are spectacular this way and it is the next best thing to that bowl of berries and heavy farm fresh cream that I have ever eaten.

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

Another one of my favourite seasonal berries is the raspberry. Can never get enough of it, either, so the Sasktoon berry galette with a raspberry oatmeal crunch topping with the raspberry ice cream is a quick recipe to make for unexpected company. (If you have a Thermomix machine as that will make the ice cream in 30 seconds. Otherwise, you will have to have some in the freezer for it to be a quick recipe. 😉 )

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

Every family that eats jam where Saskatoons are grown used to have their cupboards laden with this delicious and multipurpose concoction every fall. Still, there is nothing like the homemade version: lots of fruit and not so much sugar. This is a berry you must taste to understand as its flavour is as distinct as that of the strawberry, or the raspberry. This is a Canadian flavour and the farmed bushes are now sold and grown throughout many other regions of the world. But, this is our berry. It is our flavour. Oh, Canada!

The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Saskatoon Berry

This post answers Challenge 10 of The Canadian Food Experience Project that began June 7 2013. As we, the participants, share our collective stories through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity. The round up of all individual challenges is published in the middle of every month, here. (I did include some of my words written about these berries in my other posts, but there is merit in reading all the links if curious about the berries.)

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Filed Under: Canadian Aboriginal Food, The Canadian Food Experience Project Challenges, Wild Food Tagged With: Saskatoon Berries

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« 3rd Annual Culinary Cook Off and Auction: Mount Royal School SATURDAY
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Comments

  1. Elyse says

    March 15, 2014 at 4:22 pm

    I am hoping I have some lurking in the woods at our new house!

    Reply
    • Valerie Lugonja says

      March 17, 2014 at 12:50 pm

      Your new house? Are you moving to the country? Wonderful. If you look, you will find SO much. Have Kevin out at the beginning of May and I am sure he will find mushrooms, asparagus, highbush cranberry trees and much much more for your plucking all season long, Elise!
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  2. Margaret@KitchenFrau says

    March 15, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    What a wonderful and comprehensive compilation of saskatoon recipes and saskatoon lore. Great to have all this information about our very own special berrry in one place! Thank you.

    Reply
    • Valerie Lugonja says

      March 17, 2014 at 12:49 pm

      I bet you have a little secret picking spot out in your country lanes somewhere, Margaret!
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  3. giz says

    March 15, 2014 at 7:28 pm

    I adore Saskatoon berries. Unfortunately, they’re harder to find in Ontario than in the west. We only have a small number of producers here and I was just lucky last year to find some at a foraging vendor in one of our summer markets.

    Reply
    • Valerie Lugonja says

      March 17, 2014 at 12:48 pm

      Hey, Giz!
      Completely different, aren’t they, than anything you have ever tasted? Glad you are finding some access to them in ON!
      🙂
      V

      Reply
    • John Ellingsen says

      July 27, 2022 at 9:48 am

      Right on Valerie. Do you have a favourite Saskatoon Berry pie recipe I use flour. Should i use corn starch instead.

      Reply
      • Valerie Lugonja says

        July 29, 2022 at 11:01 am

        I send the link privately – but of course, I do… I have the traditioanl saskatoon berry pie recipe and one made with fresh berries French Tart style.
        YOu can find them both using the search window top right on my site with a desk top or laptop computer. Unfortunately, on an app, with a mobile device, the search window appears waaaaaaayyyy down at the bottom of the posts.

        Let me know how it goes!
        Valerie

        Reply
  4. Brendi says

    March 16, 2014 at 12:38 am

    Oh Valerie, what wonderful memories you are helping me to recall. Walking to and from the neighbourhood park in the summer, taking routes that led us past the wild Saskatoon bushes, picking handfuls to eat as we walked, lingering by the last bushes to savour just a few more of them. Saskatoon muffins for breakfast or sprinkled on our cereal, Saskatoon tarts and pies, Saskatoon coffee cake, fresh picked Saskatoons with farm cream or ice cream, in pancakes or waffles, so many delightful ways to enjoy our own berry. One summer at the Edmonton Folk Festival, while waiting for a truck to arrive with scaffolding for the stages, I sent a half dozen members of the site crew on a walk with pails in hand, telling them if they brought enough back I would make them pies. They proudly returned with brimming pails and I made pies. The next day they showed up with the pails full again and smiles on their faces. So I made them a Saskatoon lemon upside down cake, very yummy. Just add the juice and finely grated peel of two lemons to your recipe for upside down cake, then substitute the berries for the traditional pineapple. Serve warm with whipped cream for a real Canadian Prairie treat. To my mind Saskatoons and lemons just naturally go together.
    That final taste for your darling dad must have been so special, one you will cherish every summer as you feast on your berries, remembering his delight.
    Brendi

    Reply
    • Valerie Lugonja says

      March 17, 2014 at 12:48 pm

      Yes, Brendi – to all of your lovely comments. Completely enjoyed the images you have created in my head!
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply
  5. Will Munsey says

    March 16, 2014 at 7:43 pm

    What the heck? It’s only March. Trying to remind me that I only have one bag of frozen saskatoons left? Banana and saskatoon smoothie is my breakfast these days. Great source of potassium… one of the best ways to reduce blood pressure naturally. Per 100 grams there is 162 mg as compared to 54 mg in a blueberry.

    P.S. Do you want those “aiko” tomatoes I once told you about? I’ve planted them but could spare a couple of seedlings.

    Reply
    • Valerie Lugonja says

      March 17, 2014 at 12:47 pm

      Would love the tomato seedlings, yes! And I am sure my readers would love to see your smoothie recipe with a link to your berry farm here, too!
      🙂
      V

      Reply
  6. Karon work says

    January 19, 2024 at 3:34 pm

    Question the seeds seem large. Do you make jam with the whole fruit and leave seeds in? Or juice them?

    Reply
    • Valerie Lugonja says

      January 29, 2024 at 9:25 am

      I leave seeds in and don’t find them off putting.
      🙂
      Valerie

      Reply

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