Say thanks with saskatoons

Want to add a little Thanksgiving trivia to this year’s celebration of the Canadian harvest? Serve saskatoon pie. Then challenge your guests to tell you why this berry delight is more of a Thanksgiving staple than its pumpkin-based cousin.

Canada has celebrated Thanksgiving on the second weekend of October ever since a parliamentary proclamation in 1957. But for Alberta’s First Nations, thanksgiving used to be a daily event, says Clifford Crane Bear, Treaty #7 community liaison at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. “Every day we had to give thanks because our life was so hard out in the wilderness,” explains Crane Bear, the museum’s cultural guru for the Blackfoot Confederation.

A nomadic people who wandered the prairies in search of buffalo, southern Alberta’s aboriginals celebrated every successful hunt with special feasts of thanksgiving. In between, they gave thanks for whatever they had to eat. This means the Blackfoot people never linked thanksgiving to a particular day of year. The ripening of the saskatoon berry in early to mid-July, however, was an event celebrated by these tribes, notes Crane Bear.

Acclaimed as sacred food, saskatoons were a staple at all gatherings, from hunting feasts to more solemn pairing ceremonies because these bright little berries were considered to be something to be truly thankful for. So, pass the Thanksgiving pie, Alberta. And make it a slice of saskatoon!

Thanksgiving Trivia: Why does Canada’s Thanksgiving Day occur six weeks before the same U.S. holiday?

It’s a matter of latitude. Thanksgiving celebrates the end of an agrarian harvest. In our more northerly climate, harvest ends earlier.

Pumpkin Soup with Maple Syrup Caramelized Croutons

• 30 mL (2 tbsp) butter
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) olive oil
• 3 medium onions finely chopped
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) ground cumin
• 1.35 kg (3 lbs) sweet pumpkin (peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped)
• 2 apples, medium (peeled, cored and coarsely chopped)
• 950 mL (4 cups) chicken stock
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat the butter and oil in a heavy stockpot. Gently sauté the onion and cumin over low heat until onion softens (about 30 minutes). When the onions are tender, add the pumpkin and apple. Add the stock, making sure it covers the pumpkin and simmer over low heat until the pumpkin is tender (about 25 - 30 minutes). Strain the soup, reserving the liquid and purée the solids in a food processor. Add some of the reserved liquid and purée again. Return this mixture and any remaining liquid to the pot. (You can also use a hand held blender to avoid transferring liquids.) Season with salt and pepper, heat through and serve right away. Garnish with croutons.

To make croutons, cut a 1/2 loaf of ciabatta bread into 1/2 inch (1.2 cm cubes). Melt 1/3 cup (80 mL) butter in a large skillet. Blend in 1/4 cup (60 mL) maple syrup and add the bread cubes. Sauté over medium heat and toss until brown.

Recipe and photograph from Double Dishing, published by Whitecap Books.