Welcome

General consensus says the Saskatoon Berry industry was launched in 1986 at the Expo in Vancouver when the Saskatchewan Pavilion served Saskatoon Berry pie to the mile long line-ups of customers wanting a piece of the renowned pie from the Prairies. There are now more than 3000 acres of Saskatoon Berries planted in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, accounting for an estimated 6 million pounds of Saskatoon Berries.

These days the Saskatoon Berry is sold fresh from U-Pick operations or sold frozen to processing companies who produce Saskatoon Berry products such as spreads, jams, fruit toppings, syrups, pie fillings, concentrates, purees, and dried berries.

Prairie Berries Inc. is just one of many companies in the Saskatoon Berry business. Prairie Berries operation consists of a ten acre Saskatoon Berry orchard, a primary processing plant that cleans, grades, freezes and packages Saskatoon berries. It also has a secondary processing plant, capable of producing delicious homemade and award-winning Saskatoon Berry products such as pie filling, pies, fruit topping, syrups, jams, concentrates, purees, and dried berries.

Saskatoon Berries, commonly known as Saskatoons, are purplish-blue berries that grow on a bush. Native to Western Canada. Saskatoons are gaining an international reputation for their delectable taste and nutritional value.

The Saskatoon Berries people enjoy today are the same crop grown and enjoyed by the Aboriginal peoples of Western Canada hundreds of years ago. The name itself is derived from the Cree word “mis-sask-quah-toomina”, a word that sounds very similar to “Saskatoons”. The berries were a staple for both Aboriginal people and early settlers. The berries were enjoyed fresh, or steamed and mashed and then left to dry into a brick-like consistency for longevity. Pieces of these berry bricks were then chipped off as needed and added to soups, stews or simply boiled to reconstitute them.

The bush of the Saskatoon Berry was useful to Aboriginal people as well. The leaves and fruit were dried and used to make tea. The wood of the bush itself was weighty and flexible and thus useful in arrows and other tools, basket frames and cross-pieces of canoes. Several parts of the shrub were also used for medicinal purposes.

This latter use, speaks to the nutritional value of the Saskatoon Berry, which has been well researched and documented in our own time. The composition of the Saskatoon Berry is often compared to that of the blueberry, which has had strong market appeal and marketplace success. The Saskatoon Berry however, has nutritional properties that are significantly higher in protein, fat, fiber, calcium, magnesium, manganese, barium, and aluminum then the blueberry, and are lower in phosphorus and sulfur. There is no significant difference in iron, zinc, sodium and carotene in Saskatoons as compared to blueberries. Saskatoons are also a source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

Colourful, flavourful, versatile and nutritional are the words that best describe the Saskatoon Berry. These tasty pleasures have been a staple of Western Canada for hundreds of years, and are now enjoyed both domestically and in the international market.

Prairie Berries
Box 21
Keeler, SK Canada S0H 2E0
Phone: (306)788-2018
Fax: (306) 788-4811
Email: prairieberries@sasktel.net