Fruit

A box of apples from a neighbour's tree This may come as a surprise to many, but Edmonton has a bounty of amazing fruit growing within it. It’s hard to tell at first, because even at farmers’ markets most of the fruit is from BC: the only local specialties that appear are saskatoons and highbush cranberries, usually in the form of jam or jelly.

Not only is true local fruit bountiful, it is generally much tastier than the stuff at the grocery store.

To me the most striking example is our sour cherry varieties like Evans and Carmine Jewel. They have great acidity, and they bring more taste and complexity to the table than sweet Bing cherries sold by BC vendors. Evans cherries, for instance, have a distinct almond-extract aroma. The principle difficulty in working with them is their delicate, moist flesh, which damages easily. (Perhaps this is why they aren’t commercially farmed?) They can be used in most sweet cherry applications, though they generally will not maintain their round shape.

Or take our native highbush cranberries. They make a fantastic sauce for the Thanksgiving table, and they have way more flavour than commercially farmed bog cranberries. In fact they have a very characteristic smell, reminiscent of gym socks. It’s awesome.

Finding Fruit