Most vendors at the St. Albert Farmers’ Market aim to make a good return and will sell a product for as much profit as the market will bear.
The one anomaly is Fruits of Sherbrooke, an Edmonton based not for profit society that rescues unwanted urban fruit growing in people’s back yards.
Instead of leaving the fruit rot on the ground or thrown into the landfill, this conservation minded volunteer group makes 45 different products that range from jams and jellies to condiments and sauces.
Initially there is touch of sticker shock upon seeing the smallest 250-millilitre jars priced at $7. But these are designer flavours cooked in small batches unlike massive factory outlets.
Check out the mango-orange-rhubarb jam, or the strawberry rhubarb with Sambuca jam. Then there’s a black forest cherry sauce, a mint apple jelly, a chipotle rhubarb ketchup or a peach-peppers and Port complement.
The names are intoxicating. The flavours even more so.
The concept started in the fall of 2010 while Carol Cooper and Christina Piecha, two determined environmentalists, were walking the back alleys of their Sherbrooke neighbourhood.
Sherbrooke is a 60-year old community with numerous mature trees that produce a ton of fruit. Most of the fruit was left to rot on trees or thrown in garbage cans.
“She (Piecha) looked at all the apples on the roadway and in the back alleys. They were shoveled in garbage bags and were being left to rot. She said, ‘We should do something.’ And I stupidly said ‘OK.’” said Carol Cooper, now retired from a 25-year career in social work.
Their mission was to rescue only fruit that was not being used and make it available to the public.
“Our tagline is ‘Forgotten urban fruit made unforgettable.’ We like to think we are the fourth R – reduce, recycle, reuse and we like to add rescue.”
Piecha, dubbed the group’s “picker” or “urban farmer” contacted homeowners to donate their fruit freely and most were happy to contribute.
“The first fall we made 75 apple pies and jams and jellies. Then I discovered you could get carpel tunnel syndrome from crimping pies,” Cooper said.
Pies were also frozen and required storage capacity. Making pies was neither space effective or cost efficient, so a decision was made to produce only bottled products.
The preserves are traditionally cooked and canned from five basic local grown fruits – rhubarb, raspberry, pears, cherries, apples and crabapples.
More variety is added to the kitchen when avid pickers drop by with donated locally grown apricots, gooseberries, saskatoons, honeyberries and wild blueberries.
Just recently the collective has developed a relationship with Walkers Own, a top produce vendor that supplies fruits from British Columbia.
“Fruit that is bruised or marked doesn’t get sold. It goes in a bin under the table and they give it to us. And if they have an excess that is not market ready, they call us.”
The other option for the B.C. fruit vendor is to dump it in a ditch or take it to the landfill. One of their most famous B.C. rescues was 200 lbs. of plums that was converted into a savoury ginger plum sauce.
“When we get fruit from B.C., we know it would usually go in the dump. This works for everybody. We don’t pay for the fruit, Walkers is happy and we make food for people.”
The collective’s kitchen guarantee states that each product is 60 to 100 per cent rescued fruit and is preservative free with a few exceptions.
“The B.C. fruit has been sprayed. It’s different from the urban rescue fruit that has not been sprayed.”
Labels provide an ingredient list and whether the fruit is urban rescue and/or B.C. grown.
Cooper, the main recipe architect accompanied by four cooks, concocts all the preserves with suggestions from the group depending on the type of available fruit.
“Creating a recipe is like music. You should have different levels. You should taste something when it goes in the mouth and then something that fills the middle. You should feel it on the roof of the mouth or the back of the mouth and then there should be a finish when you swallow. That’s what I aim for.”
The volunteer cooks are a diverse crew of individuals that include students, immigrants learning English, developmentally delayed individuals and persons with mental health issues.
“We offer jobs to people not in the regular work stream – people not able to work for various reasons. We offer entry level employment.”
As a primary driver of this social enterprise, Cooper has also put to use her social work skills connecting with local agencies.
“Last year we diverted 8,000 kilograms of apples to Hope Mission, University of Alberta Food Bank, the Grant MacEwan Food Bank, Amity House, Dwayne’s Home, and various community kitchens.”
This year Cooper has connected with E4C, an inner city charity that provides a lunch school program to 20 schools. At harvest, Fruits of Sherbrooke will donate tons of apples to E4C.
In turn, E4C is building a relationship with NAIT culinary students. As part of their program, emerging cooks will make applesauce and fruit rollups for the schools.
“For us, this is huge. This is food going to kids. It’s going to the people who are hungry. It’s finally getting to the people who want it and we’re very excited about it.”
In addition to diverting fruit, the collective channels their profits into numerous communities teaching low income or immigrant families the art of canning and preserving under their Cherry Stone Program.
Fruits of Sherbrooke also offers a three-hour preserving class for $50 to the general public. Participants walk home with eight jars of jam.
Anyone interested in attending a preserving class can call 780-244-0129. A full inventory list of products is available on the website at www.fruitsofsherbrooke.ca. In addition, the website offers suggestions on what foods to pair their products with.
Oh, yes. I did buy the mint apple jelly. It’s definitely a niche spread where a hint of fresh mint hits you immediately followed by the more delicate, sweet apple character.
Food lovers who like to present a hint of something different would be remiss to pass this booth without stopping for a sampler of a wonderful community venture.
