It is blueberry picking time in McGrath, Alaska! This is one of the major summer happenings in our community every year. McGrath residents take their wild blueberry picking seriously and I mean seriously – our neighbors picked 40 gallons one year! That’s a lot of berries.
The berries are good this year but they are not always “good”. What makes a good or bad berry year? Mainly two variables: 1) Adequate rain and 2) no late frosts (these freeze the berry blossoms so no berries can grow).
Three years ago it was very, very dry. The plants did not get sufficient water and bushes had few to no berries. The berries I did find were small, dry and lacked the sweet taste they usually have. We had many wildfires that year and thick smoke. The temperature even hit the low 90’s for a couple of day! A rare event in McGrath.
We did have some late frosts in June this year down in town but it apparently didn’t get cold enough to nip the berry blossoms as evidenced by the images above showing nice clusters of big juicy berries.
How do we store our berries? First, I spread them out on cookie sheets and freeze them in batches. I put them in freezer bags or vacuum seal them and store them in the freezer. I also make lots of blueberry jam. Some years we dehydrate them and eat dried berry snacks through out the winter.
Favorite recipes include blueberry waffles, blueberry pancakes, cold cereal topped with frozen blueberries, blueberry muffins and of course, blueberry pie.
I’m a pie baking enthusiast. Pecan pies, blueberry pies, apples pies…..you name it, I bake it. Last week Benjamin had a lesson in pie making and above is his first attempt! It was delicate and delicious. We have one piece left….I wonder who will win the fight to get that for dessert today?
Here’s one of my favorite Alaska Wild Blueberry Pie recipes:
- Pie crust-always homemade: 2 cups flour, 3/4 cups vegetable shortening, about 3 Tbs cold water, mix and roll.
- 4 cups blueberries
- 1 cup organic sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- stir all together, pour into pie crust, add top crust, crimp and bake at 350 for around 45 minutes until done.
Wild Alaska blueberries have many counterparts in our region. We also pick lowbush cranberries, high bush cranberries, cloudberries, currants (red and black), and raspberries. Wild raspberries grow around McGrath, but about ten years ago we began a cultivated Alaska strain that has bigger, juicier and more flavorful berries than the wild strain. Last year we picked eight gallons- all coming from a small patch. For info on where to find wild berries to pick in interior Alaska see the Alaska Center’s website.
Alaska Wilderness Mom 