The Best of Alberta’s Fruit Season is Now!
Contributed by Jolene Ottosen
I know that June is strawberry season, but I think Alberta’s best fruit, the saskatoons, raspberries and sour cherries, are at their peak about now, from late July to mid-August. Do not miss this bounty!
When I was a kid, my mom had a large strawberry patch in the garden, and above the strawberries was a string of tin can lids hung to scare away the birds. The lids didn’t always work, but we were generally able to outwit the birds enough to get a decent harvest. However, even better than the strawberries, my grandmother had rows and rows of raspberries that she would send me out to pick. I quickly learned that putting fresh raspberries in your pocket to save for later wasn’t a great plan, better to just leave them in the bucket, especially if the floral cotton lining of those pockets made those your favourite pants! Other berries took a little more work to procure as picking them meant driving around pastures and country roads in search of saskatoons and chokecherries, hoping someone else hadn’t found that stash first. Even camping trips got interrupted if mom found a ripe saskatoon bush. Empty ice cream buckets would suddenly materialize, and we all knew that the beach would have to wait. I have very vivid memories of once desperately trying to pick chokecherries, as fast as I could, in the middle of an aphid infestation. As I think about it, I can still feel them crawling…shudder.
Now, I realize I am not making berry picking sound very fun. Sometimes it was, and sometimes it wasn’t, but the end result was always worth it. Fresh strawberries with ice cream, saskatoon pie, chokecherry syrup, or just plain berries on their own, all make your sacrifice seem worth it. Much to my mother’s chagrin, I quickly discovered that even plain frozen saskatoons are a delicious treat – so much better than blueberries, provided you let them thaw enough not to break your teeth on them!
In my own garden, I have had limited luck with growing my own fruit and berries. The strawberries I planted only seemed to have one good season, and after that, the few berries I got were eaten by the birds before they got ripe enough for us, so I pulled them out to make way for other things. Raspberries also allude me, although I wonder if part of that has to do with me not being attentive enough to the new canes. For whatever the reason, they do not like me, but they do like my neighbours and I will not complain about the errant cane that shoots up under our shared fence! About nine years ago I decided to put in a saskatoon berry bush. I had enough room and hoped the area got enough light. While the bush is still with us, it has only grown about a foot or two over the years and never produced more than a handful of berries. I have not, however, given up completely on my dream of saskatoons, and plan to move the bush to a sunnier locale to see if it cheers up a little more there.
Thankfully, there is one fruit tree I have had luck with, and that is the sour cherry. Since the tree was already here when we bought our home I am not entirely sure what type it is, but I do believe it is part of the romance series developed by the University of Saskatchewan, possibly a Juliet. Although the tree was quite small when we moved in 11 years ago, it has grown considerably since then. I have been told that sour cherry trees do not sucker much as they are not a grafted variety; however, I now have several trees I did not plant and we occasionally wrestle with large suckers in the lawn. Fortunately, we love the cherries, so while the suckers are annoying, it is worth the work. This year I have noticed that part of my main tree has died off, but according to the Saskatoon Farm’s website, this has been a widespread problem in Alberta this year. Thankfully, we will still have more than enough for our needs. While I don’t love processing the cherries, I do love having bags of pitted fruit in the freezer that I can quickly turn into something.
While all these fruit and berries are delicious eaten on their own, a little cooking and sweetener can further enhance their flavour. Some people like to turn their summer fruit into pies or jams, but I prefer simpler and quicker recipes like quick sauces; summer pudding, an English dish which is basically layers of white bread and berry sauce pressed into a dish and left to soak up all the goodness, then turned out on a plate and served with cream; or clafoutis (pronounced kla-FOO-tee) which is a simple French fruit and custard dish that is traditionally made with sweet cherries; however, I think sour cherries add another flavour dimension to the dish that makes it so much better. Other fruit can be used in place of the cherries.
If I have convinced you that you need some of this Alberta fruit in your life, and you are not lucky enough to have a garden or pasture full of them, or know of any hidden backroad bushes, do not despair, there are a number of u-pick farms nearby. For about $15-16 a bucket you can pick your own, or for a little more, you can save yourself that step and buy some pre-picked produce. A simple Google search of “Calgary u-pick” will show you a number of farms that are just a short drive away. Many of these farms diversified over the years and now offer market vegetables, baked goods, and other attractions, but the fruit will always be the star for me!
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