There’s a small window of opportunity every summer when the berries are plentiful, fresh and at their peak. That time is NOW.  Joel was up early pillaging the markets for anything good and local that he could get his hands on. The Brickworks and St.Lawrence Market were buzzing, the tables are overflowing and the vibe is energetic. I’ve taken over today’s post because Joel is currently up to his elbows in berries. There will be lots of posts to come about what he’s up to, but for now we’d like to encourage you to get out there and grab some great berries while you can** Preserve them, freeze them and better yet…eat them.  I’m on a natural sugar high from pinching raspberries and cherries of amazing variety out of Joel’s stash. It’s fun, but hard work that will pay off when the snow is flying and we can taste summer on a piece of toast.

Here’s a list of what we got to preserve this weekend:

• red raspberries

• golden raspberries (my new favourite!)

• gooseberries (the green ones are not ripe – but perfect for preserving, while the red ones are riper)

• black currents

• red currents

• white currents

• 3 types of sweet cherries

** note: we stopped off at a few big local grocery chains to pickup other supplies that we needed and took a spin through the produce section. Berries everywhere, but almost all were from the United States.  There’s lots of Ontario berries to be had, but you have to look for them. Read the signs at the grocery store, visit a farmer’s market, try to go right to the source for your berries.

stay tuned for all the preserving details!!