Fruit Wine / Crops

I am guessing the Sakahoons are serviceberries. they make decent wine IIRC. I think Jack Keller has a recipe for them.

I would grow something that youlike making wine from, reguardless of the amount of croppage you get. I would go and collect wild fruit, making wine and trying each to see if you like it. Then you can start the wild plant from seed. Ditto goes for the normal fruits....such as raspberries.

Wine rhubarb is virtually interchangeable with all othter rhubarbs. IF you tend to get too much oxalic acid you can titrate it out with calcium carbonate.

I started my winemaking in Edmonton, which has a climate very similar to many parts fo Saskatchewan, so I feel qualified to answer this.

The apples and crabapples that grew in Edmonton gave very tannic wines; I have yet to find an apple wine that I particularly liked. A mixture of chokecherries and apples, on the other hand, makes a glorious wine- the apples mellow out the chokecherries like you wouldn't believe. Black currant and apple is also a good mix, if you've the patience to pick currants.

Straight chokecherry, on the other hand, is an acquired taste- my mother loves it, I've never liked it. To each his own.

Wine made from saskatoons (don't capitalize the word- they're not named after the city) is, to my mind, much better than chokecherry. And it ages wonderfully- a twenty-year-old bottle of saskatoon wine is to die for.

My favourite, however, is raspberry. They ferment well, clear rapidly, and a small raspberry patch will give you enough for a large batch of wine with just a few pickings.

Happy vinting!

My suggestions:

Blackberries Blueberries Gooseberries

The original poster lives in Saskatchewan- blueberries and gooseberries may do well, but I highly doubt you'll see blackberries anywhere in that province.

Cheers,

Sometimes raspberries grow a bit too well. We spent years pulling raspberry canes out of the yard, the back alley, the middle of the garage floor, the eavestroughs, etc. after growing raspberries for a few years. They also don't tend to be sweet unless they get a certain amount of direct sunlight.

Saskatoons are an excellent all-purpose fruit - you can make wine, mead (melomel), pies, cakes, juice, etc. from them - but they don't bear that many fruit for the first few years. They're also bird magnets, so if you want some fruit for yourself you have to chicken-wire them.

Most of the crabapple trees in Alberta and Saskatchewan were planted, or are decendants of trees that were planted, in the early 1950s. The variety of crabapple used by the nurseries at that time wasn't chosen for its taste but for its foliage and bloom and for its low price. They make pretty rough wines. If you don't use the fruit, it's important to rake it up as soon as it falls, especially if you have a dog. As the fruit ferments it becomes very appetizing but has unfortunate abdominal consequences. A drunk dog with diarrhea is just a heaping helping of fun, I can tell you.

I don't know if you can grow blackberries in Saskatoon. You can't grow them in Calgary, but then again we have the cold summer nights due to being high in altitude. Check with Lindeman's Seeds in Winnipeg and see what they say - their staff seems to be very knowledgable about what can and cannot be grown on the Prairies.

wd41

I was under the impression that blackberries didn't grow in Alberta due to the lack of humidity, which would probably apply to Saskatchewan as well. You certianly can't grow them in Edmonton, and Saskatoon's not that far off, latitudilly.

But they do make a delightful liqueur- a quart/litre mason jar of washed and quartered crabs, a cup of sugar, and 3/4 cup of vodka. Let it sit on its side for two weeks, rotating 90 degrees twice a day, then filter out the crabs. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Cheers,