Prairie berries (Saskatoon berries) are a true Canadian berry primarily grown in the prairie provinces and while they’re versatile, they’re a little underrated and they also feel competition from other locally grown commodities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. “They compete for land base with more commonly grown crops such as canola, pulses, wheat, flax and lentils,” says Jessica Alexander of Prairie Berries. Their season has just begun, running mid-July to mid-August. “It’s a very short season: about 21 days in total.”
Short season but high yields
At times the crop can be challenged by insect infestation. “Bud moth has a devastating impact on the development of Saskatoon berry fruit, and apple curriculio can be invasive to the fruit if not controlled.” Of course, weather can always present problems, but not this year since they anticipate such a good crop. Regardless of the fruit’s short season Prairie Berries expects to harvest about one million pounds this year. “It’s an even higher harvest than last year,” Alexander says. “The weather has played a role in this year’s crop being so productive; we didn’t have to deal with super wet conditions or frost so we didn’t lose any crop to disease or weather.”
Desire for increased customer service
Outside of the immediate area they’re not as well known or consumed across Canada as they could be. “Over the last five years a lot of effort has gone into creating a greater awareness of Saskatoon berries through trade show attendance, media articles, increased distribution of Saskatoon in Canada and the USA,” she notes. With that, consumption seems to be steadily increasing. “Yes consumption of Saskatoon berries has been increasing in Canada largely due to awareness of the healthy aspects of Saskatoon berries. And the ‘buy local’ trends and the development of products like Saskatoon berry concentrate, dried berries and powders (have certainly helped).”
Taste profile & multi-uses
When it comes to describing their taste, Alexander states that it’s tricky to pinpoint the fruit’s flavor profile. “Let me ask you how you would compare the taste of a blueberry? When we ask this question to people trying the Saskatoon berry for the first time, their responses are: tastes like plum/cherry, marzipan (almond/cherry), it has a very fibrous textured fruit, and it’s not too sweet.”
Regardless the Saskatoon berry has multi-use applications. When processed for juice concentrate, pomace – the remaining ingredient – is dried and milled into a powder formula used in smoothies and fruit bars. “This pomace is high in fiber and manganese, and a source of vitamin E, iron, calcium,” explains Alexander.
Superfood ranking alongside blueberries
It might be difficult to compare Saskatoon berries with other ‘superfoods’ but it ranks among them. Superfoods are rated on criteria such as anthocyanins, polyphenols, total antioxidant activity, and ORAC etc. She says people might not realize that there are many assay methods that can be used to determine a specific compound. “Depending on the method some of the super fruits do better in one compound using a specific assay method.” What they can say, however, was that laboratory analysis was completed comparing Saskatoon berries to other super fruits like blueberries, acai berry, noni, goji “and for the most part, exceeded all of them in phenolics and anthocyanins and was a bit less in total antioxidant activity than that of blueberries and noni powder.” Taste wise, the bold Saskatoon berry – and blueberries – seem to outperform other super fruits like noni, acai, or goji berries.
In addition to its current product line that includes frozen, puree, pie filling, spread, dried, and chocolate coated berries, Prairie Berries will be introducing a Saskatoon Berry Powder in a single serve packet (14 grams) which contains 29% of your daily fiber requirement and 40% of manganese and a source of vitamin E, iron and calcium. The new powder is projected to launch this fall.
For more information:
Jessica Alexander
Prairie Berries
Ph: 306.788.2018