Saskatoons Delivery or Pickup

Saskatoons are very similar to blueberries in many ways. In all likelihood, if you didn't read the label, you might pick up a pint thinking they were blueberries. You probably would be pleased with the mistake, too. Saskatoon berries are blue pomes with the same shape and size as blueberries. They are sweet and nutty and, like blueberries, contain copious amounts of dietary fiber, biotin, riboflavin, iron, and manganese. 

In the wild, saskatoons grow like blueberries, in shrub-like bushes that clump and spread. In rare cases, they grow as high as 16 feet, but they run between 1-8 feet tall on average. They grow everywhere in North America, from the central United States up to Alaska and across Canada. In Michigan alone, there are over 20 commercial growers. They go by different names depending on the region, sometimes called the juneberry, prickly pear, serviceberry, shadbush, and pigeonberry.

The saskatoon berry has historically been enjoyed by indigenous people wherever it grows. You can eat saskatoons picked fresh, or you can bake them into pies. Over the years, saskatoons have been made into jams and jellies or dried like cranberries and raisins. You can make wine, beer, and cider from saskatoon berries. Many indigenous people in Canada used them for making pemmican, which is dried meat that saskatoons get added to as a preservative and flavoring.

The saskatoon bush begins with pretty, white flowers with a distinctive five-petal pattern. After flowering, fruit buds form in small green balls. As the season progresses, the berries grow. Saskatoons need lots of sunlight to ripen fully. As they get closer to ripeness, they change from green to reddish-purple and eventually to a deep blue-purple, again, very much like a blueberry. Saskatoons continue to ripen after picking, so many farmers will begin harvesting in late June through early July.

If you plan on picking wild saskatoon berries, pick the deep blue-purple berries for immediate consumption. If you're going to bake a pie or make a jam or jelly, you can pick the reddish-purple berries and let them sit for a day or two to ripen further. 

When choosing how to select saskatoon berries in the grocery store, the same rules apply to picking them fresh. One should look for mostly fruit in the container with a deep blue color. A few red-purple berries are normal and signify the berries are in the final stages of ripening after picking. The blue-colored saskatoon has a much sweeter flavor but bruises easily. 

Fully ripened saskatoon berries are best for eating plain, like grapes or blueberries, or making wine, beer, or cider because of the high natural sugar content. Partially ripened saskatoon berries are good when making jams and jellies, where recipes tend to call for additional sugar. The underripe saskatoon's tartness gets balanced against the added sugar for a pleasant, sweet, nutty almond result. If you plan on drying saskatoon berries like you would grapes or cranberries, the riper, the better. The high sugar content in the fully ripened berry will result in sweet, dried fruit.

Shopping for saskatoon is fast and straightforward on the Instacart app. All you need to do is add the quantity of saskatoon to your cart and check out. After checkout, an Instacart shopper will prepare your order for in-store pick-up in as little as 2 hours! Depending on the day and time, your order may qualify for same-day delivery!