Posts Tagged ‘featured fruit’
Featured Fruit – Nagoonberry
Found in Northern Alaska in shady thickets, meadows, and stream sides. If you aren’t lucky enough to grow your own nagoonberries or find them in the wild, you can replace them with raspberries or strawberries in this recipe for trail cookies. Nagoonberry Hardtack (Taken from the Alaska Wildberry Guide and Cookbook.) 4 cups nagoonberries…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Banana
Featured Fruit Banana Musa acuminata Colla, M. X paradisiaca L. (hybrid) Bananas are the fourth largest crop in the world, comprised of over 400 cultivated varieties, and the plants grow throughout every tropical region. The plants are called trees, but are actually a perennial herb. The stem is composed of tightly wrapped leaves surrounding the…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Avocado
Avocado Persea Americana Avocados grow in subtropical climes where there is no frost and little wind, though the Haas cultivar has been known to tolerate temperatures down to −1°C. The trees are partially self-fertile, and like apples are propagated by grafting to maintain predictability in the fruit. The rough, green-skinned, pear shaped fruit is botanically…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Pumpkin
Pumpkin – Cucurbita pepe, C. mixta, C. maxima, C. moschata The origin of pumpkins is not known, although pumpkins are thought to have originated in North America. The oldest evidence, pumpkin-related seeds dating between 7000 and 5500 B.C., were found in Mexico. Pumpkins are a squash-like fruit that range in size (less than…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Coconut
Coconut Cocos nucifera Coconuts are so common throughout the world’s tropical regions that the exact origin is unknown. The fruit can float for long periods of time, following ocean currents to colonize new lands. Coconuts were the Polynesian way of carrying water to drink on their long, migratory canoe trips. A coconut can…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Wild Alaskan Blueberry
Wild Alaskan Blueberry Vaccinium ovalifolium, V. alaskensis, V. uliginosum Our wild blueberries here in Alaska tend to be much more flavorful than the commercial blueberries bought at the grocery store. They grow in such abundance that many find no need to attempt the very specific conditions required for growing blueberry cultivars in their back…
Read MoreRed Raspberry
Red Raspberry Rubus idaeus Native to North America, red raspberries grow from perennial roots. The tall, thorny canes are brownish red and woody, reach full size the first year, produce heavily the second year, then die and are replaced by new canes. Leaves consist of 3 to 5 irregularly toothed leaflets, whitish and hairy…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Cranberry
Cranberry Alaskan Bog Cranberry – Oxycoccus microcarpus A member of the Heath family, this creeping shrub has slender branches and tiny leaves. The flowers resemble miniature shooting stars, while the ruby fruit often appears to be lying on a bed of moss. Prefers mossy peat bogs. The American Cranberry – Vaccinium macrocarpon This…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit — Gooseberry
GOOSEBERRY Ribes spp. Saxifragaceae Gooseberries are shrubs which grow best in cool climates with cold winters. American gooseberries have weeping stems and will root themselves where they touch the ground. The leaves are glossy and dark green, deeply lobed, and grow alternately along the stem. The stems are woody and carry thorns at each…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit: Rhubarb
Rhubarb – Rheum rhabarbarum Rhubarb is an easy to grow perennial if planted in well drained soil. The stalk is the edible portion (the large leaves are poisonous) and comes in varying shades of green to red. Longer stalks can by obtained by blanching young plants in the spring using a cardboard box with the…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit: Strawberry
Strawberry – Fragaria Strawberry plants are composed of sets of three saw-toothed leaflets growing on slender, 8-20 inch tall stalks. The berries can be white, pink, or red and are fleshy and juicy. Strawberries are generally self fruitful. There are three classifications of strawberries based on when they flower and produce fruit. June bearers start…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit: Apple
Apples are members of the rose family, or Rosaceae, and the genus Malus. The common wild apple of Europe and Asia is M. pumila. Other wild species are M. sylvestris (a wild crab), and M. baccata. The Western Crabapple, M. fusca, grows wild on the Kenai Peninsula (rare) and along the coast of Southeastern Alaska…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit: American Red Currant
American Red Currant (Ribes Triste) These , straggly, thorn free shrubs grow 1 1/2 feet to 5 feet high with reddish brown shreddy bark. The smooth leaves have 3-5 toothed lobes, and may or may not be hairy underneath. The fruit is ready in late summer, drooping in clusters from the stems just below…
Read MoreFeatured Fruit: Spruce Tips
White Spruce is found on well drained soil on south facing gentle slopes and along the edges of rivers and lakes. Black Spruce grows on north facing slopes and in lowlands that are underlain by permafrost. Sitka Spruce grows in coastal areas. Collect the new, bright green, soft growth on the tips of well established…
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