Personal blog about states
Wild berry picking spots recommended by the Cooperative Extension Service include Hatcher Pass, Lazy Mountain, Eagle River Valley, Kincaid Park, Prospect Heights in Chugach State Park, Flattop Mountain, Rendezvous Peak, Rabbit Creek, Old Johnson Trail, Indian Valley Trail, Crow Pass road in Girdwood, Crow Pass Trail,
Find Anchorage’s Best Berry Patches Flattop Mountain Trail: Follow the Seward Highway south to the Huffman exit. Mount Alyeska: Take the Seward Highway south to Girdwood, turn left on the Alyeska Highway. Rendezvous Peak Trail: Follow the Glenn Highway north to the Arctic Valley exit.
Grows on acid, peaty soils throughout Alaska and the circumpolar North. It is an understory shrub in many northern forest types and occurs in bogs, muskegs and open alpine and arctic tundra. It can occur as solitary shrubs or large clones, a product of layering of above-ground shoots that get buried in the organic mat.
Hatcher Pass : This large area is a popular blueberry picking spot. Take the Glen Highway 43 miles north of Anchorage and turn west into the Palmer-Fishhook Road. The road becomes Hatcher Pass Road. Drive above tree line to get into blueberry picking country.
Avoid all white berries in Alaska —they’re all poisonous . And the most infamous poisonous berry in Alaska is the baneberry, which has white or red berries —look for a black spot on the red berry. Two good ones: Alaska’s Wild Berries and Alaska’s Wild Plants .
Opportunities in Alaska Fruit Farming Operating on just a few acres, Don grows a wide variety of crops, from red and black currants, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, apples and honeyberries.
Sometimes at the end of Blueberry picking season, you can find the highly coveted Paungaq (POWN-guck), or crowberry, simply known as “ blackberry ” here, growing close to the ground on the rolling tundra. The dark black berry is ready before the first frost, when the berries are full, ripe and still firm.
The tender young shoots of this plant were eaten by some aboriginal peoples as a salad green, but most considered the plant and berries poisonous . The berries are reported to be juicy and sweet, with a watermelon -like flavor.
Common Edible Berries of Interior Alaska Alaska Blueberry – Vaccinium uliginosum. Raspberry – Rubus idaeus. Low-bush Cranberry – Vaccinium vitis idaea. High-bush Cranberry – Viburnum edule. Northern Red Currant – Ribes triste. Crowberry – Empetrum nigrum. Caution! Berry picking basics & helpful hints.
Cloudberries Fresh cloudberries are soft, juicy, and fairly tart. Their taste is best described as a mix between raspberries and red currants — with a hint of floral sweetness. They are safe to eat raw (6).
Flavor: Cloudberries are very juicy, and they taste a bit like a cross between a raspberry and a red currant. They are fairly tart when eaten raw with a bit of floral sweetness .
With an appearance similar to a raspberry and the color of a bright juicy orange, cloudberries – also known as bakeapples and low-bush salmonberries, depending on who you ask – are a rare treat. They grow almost exclusively in Scandinavia (Norway and Finland), Russia, Canada and Alaska.
From Anchorage: Follow the Glenn Highway north from Anchorage north to mile 49.5. Turnoff on Palmer-Fishhook Road and follow the signs to Hatcher Pass Road/Independence Mine State Historical Park.