If your local independent Ontario retailer should carry Saskatoon Berries, please forward their information to: info@augustsharvest.com

Frozen Saskatoon Berries & Frozen Pies are available from: click here

Saskatoon Jam, Spread, Topping and Fruits in Liquors can be purchased from from these retailers: click here

Saskatoon recipes click your heels here

During Expo 86 in Vancouver, Saskatchewan's food pavilion had a 3-hour lineup. Three hours for WHAT?  Saskatoon Berry Pie of course!

Growing up on a prairie farm that had the feel of a William Kurelek painting, eating & picking Saskatoon Berries are one of my fondest memories, also one of the few reasons for which my father Elmer would suspend farm work. I feel the same way today, and get a kick giving someone their first taste of Saskatoon pie. A couple of the greatest exports from the prairies are Saskatoon Berries, and ex stubble jumpers looking for Saskatoon Berries. Those unfamiliar with Saskatoons at first sight think blueberries, however Saskatoons have a more purple hue with the distinct taste best described as smokey-almond.

Saskatoon berries were an integral part of the plains Indian diet  being a main ingredient in pemmican. (the mixture of smoked buffalo meat, dried berries and fat which kept for months, ie todays beef jerky). The word Saskatoon originated from Cree meaning fruit which was Missask- qua-too-mina or Mis-sask-a-too-mina. The bush filled many needs of the plains Indian, food, medicine, bows, arrows, baskets, canoe ribbing and other tools. Both sets of my grandparents homesteaded in Saskatchewan after the turn of the last century, and for those who explored and settled the west, these berries were high on the list as a food source, especially through the dirty 30's.

In North America Amelanchier is known as serviceberry, saskatoon, juneberry, shadberry, sugar pear and Indian pear. Amelanchier alnifolia, the saskatoon, is the western species, growing wild and undomesticated ranging from Alaska, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and south to California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

As an antioxidant, the Saskatoon berry nourishes with the same  nutraceutical goodness as blueberry, blackberry, and grape seed extract, while delivering significantly higher nutritional values in terms of  protein, fat, fiber(x2), calcium, magnesium, manganese, barium, and aluminum then the blueberry. Iron, zinc, sodium, Vitamin A-C and carotene in  Saskatoons are similar to blueberries. Saskatoon berries are now being received with great acclaim in both Japan & Germany.

Saskatoon orchards began on the prairies in the 1970s and have seen a steady increase in acreage since. The berry is popular on the prairies fresh from U-Picks or stores, and during off season frozen, or processed as spreads, jams, fruit toppings, syrups, pie fillings, concentrates,  purees, or dried berries.

More Saskatoons are coming into production across Ontario. August's Harvest's goal is to get Ontarians exposed to these delectable Saskatoon berries in one form or another.