Читать книгу The Alaska Wild Berry Cookbook - Alaska Northwest Books - Страница 8

Foreword

Nature provides us with no more delicious, nourishing, or prolific food than the berries that grow in wild abandon throughout our Northern landscape. Wild berries have been an important part of the Native American diet and tradition for centuries. Many people have formed traditions of their own with yearly outings to pick berries of all kinds, both wild and cultivated, to use in jams, jellies, preserves, and pies.

In recent years, more and more people have become aware of the substantial health benefits from the wide varieties of berries that grow in the wild and that are available from grocery stores. Strawberries, loganberries, currants, gooseberries, lingonberries, bilberries, and more are healthful sources of vitamin C, calcium,magnesium, potassium, phytochemicals, and flavonoids.

Wild berry picking is an enjoyable and time-honored tradition, especially in Alaska. Nearly 50 species of berries grow wild in Alaska. Most of these berries are edible, many a real treat to the taste buds. Some, however, are inedible or even poisonous. Whenever picking berries in the wild, it is a good idea to take along a reliable identification guide so that you know exactly what you are picking. When picking wild berries, or any wild plant, for consumption, avoid any that seem questionable.

Berry picking is a wonderful family project—and so is eating the bounty. For the less adventurous, more and more wild berries and cultivated berries are available at grocery stores, farmer’s markets, food co-ops, and “u-pick’em” farms. This book presents a choice selection of over two hundred recipes that range far and beyond the usual sampling of pies, toppings, and jams. Besides desserts, you’ll find recipes for beverages, marinades and meat dishes, stuffings, candies, sauces, trail foods, and even cocktails. Also included is invaluable information on a multitude of ways to preserve berries. And if berry picking isn’t your thing, or if you live in an area where the more unusual varieties are not available, cultivated varieties can be substituted for most of the wild berries in the recipes.

—The Editors