Zucchini and summer squash thrive. Peas and bush beans are favorites. Potatoes—especially the Yukon Gold variety—are exceptionally sweet and tender when boiled whole or oven-baked in slices. Alaska also features several thriving greenhouse operations that produce tomatoes plus flowers and vegetable starts. Locally grown apples and berries are also available. Many productive apple varieties can thrive once they're grafted onto a cold-ground rootstock often Siberian crab apple varieties and transplanted to favorable orchard or garden sites.
Look for locally cultivated raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries as well. As a result, local produce is not widely available in regular grocery stores, and makes infrequent appearances on restaurant menus.
A dozen species ripen every August and September—from sea level rainforests to the open tundra of the alpine zone. During a good season, blueberry patches will be so prolific that pickers often have trouble finding a place to sit down without staining their clothes. Don't hesitate to park at a highway trailhead and meander into the hills with a bucket or a bag, if visiting from late July through fall.
Additional productive gathering can be found off trailheads along the Seward Highway through Turnagain Pass, with the most productive berry slopes above about to foot elevation level.
From either Turnagain Pass parking areas , head upslope and spread out. From the east-side lot, take the trail toward the mountains. Blueberry patches are scattered throughout the spruce and hemlock, often along the edges of clearings. Salmonberries and wild raspberries can also be prolific, especially in wetter ground.
Ripe varieties will range from grey-blue to almost black, depending on the species and immediate growing conditions. Very generally, alpine blueberries grow close to the ground on open slopes and can be surprisingly sweet.
Mixed among them are gobs of black crowberries, which are bland. In open forest glades, look for shrubs and small bushes with blueberries that are tart and tangy, some black-hued and as large as small grapes. Avoid all white berries they're poisonous and be cautious of single red berries. Check out our berry primer for more information.
Spit out any berry that tastes bitter or chalky. Alaska has a thriving craft beer scene , with more than 35 microbreweries operating in at least 20 communities around the state. The ales, lagers, and pilsners are often associated with a specific restaurant or pub. Anchorage, in particular, features several popular venues , some with visible brewing tanks. Big Swig Tours is a great way to sample fresh tapped beer, with tours of several different flavors , including one where you bike brewery-to-brewery and another where you ride the Alaska Railroad.
The state also boasts an award-winning regional brewery with national distribution—the Alaskan Brewing Company , in Juneau. Check out Bear Creek Winery in Homer for a tour where you can sample blueberry and raspberry wines. Denali Winery in Anchorage specializes in crafting personal wines for special order in their South Anchorage facility.
Try a flight of six wines. Producers are often mom-and-pop operations that offer intimate settings for sampling. Visit the tasting room or take a tour. Also check out:. When the sap runs during a three-week season every April, a handful of entrepreneurs tap wild birch trees across the state. Freshness and processing are key. Some people say it has a nutty flavor, or sometimes offers a hint of wild raspberry. Birch syrup is sold irregularly in grocery stores, but you can find it more frequently in specialty shops like Alaska Wild Berry Products , Kahiltna Birchworks , and Natural Pantry.
Here are some places to get it. Scores of Alaskans have embraced the fine art of bee-keeping, with apiaries spread across the state, including many locations inside the Anchorage urban area. For the most part, bees must be imported in the early spring and do not survive the winter. The honey produced can be remarkable—lighter and more liquid than many commercial varieties, and laced with complex flavors that hint at the boreal summer.
Where the bees forage in locales dominated by fireweed—that tall violet-red wildflower that thrives in former wildfire burns and any disturbed ground—they produce some of the most subtle and flavorful honey of all. Check out:. Alaskans love fresh coffee, and many vendors draw on beans that have been roasted in-state. Most operations have their own shops, as well as distribution networks into many other venues. Kaladi Brothers Coffee pioneered the Anchorage scene back in the s, and their signature brews can be found throughout the state.
Here are some great places. Expert Advice First Trip to Alaska? How to Plan and Book? What to Wear in Alaska? Caribou chili, Copper River salmon, Kachemak Bay oysters, moose burgers, reindeer sausage and even gooseberry pie. Alaska is filled with wild and organic food sources that are sure to leave your taste buds on cloud nine. Did we leave any of your traditional favorites off the list?
Posted in Alaska Dining March 30, by Courtney. During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date. Wild Alaska King Crab Legs. Flickr - LH Wong. The most prized species of crab in the world, King Crab is the 1 foodie bucket list item when coming to Alaska. The texture and flavor of Alaskan king crab legs is more delicate and softer in appearance compared to other crab species.
Flickr - CK Golf Solutions. From the wild to the table, caribou chili is a true comfort food in Alaska that makes you feel like one with the land. Caribou is a naturally organic meat rich with nutrients and taste. Jumbo sea scallops, prawns, clams, reindeer sausage, braised greens and cheese grits.
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