Berries

Whether intentionally seeking berries for jellies and jams or just out for a casual hike, residents and visitors will find the 50-some varieties of wild berries in Alaska hard to resist.

Because plants near roads are likely to be covered with dust from passing cars, it's generally best to avoid berries within 30 to 40 feet of a road.

For people who are new to picking berries in Alaska, it might be a good idea to carry a guidebook to avoid potentially poisonous berries.

If unsure of the berries you find, bring them to the Kenai Wildlife Refuge in Soldotna for identification.

Following are some of the more popular and plentiful berries on the Kenai Peninsula:

Blueberry -- Easily the most popular because they are tasty, plentiful and easy to pick. Varieties include the bog and alpine blueberries. The dwarf blueberry has a sweeter flavor, but is generally not found in abundance and because they grow close to the ground, they are difficult to harvest. Berry bushes can be found in bogs, woodlands and moist coastal forests. They peak from late summer to early September.

Salmonberry - The name has to do with the berry's color, which matches that of sockeye salmon filets. A close cousin of the raspberry, salmonberries are the first to ripen early in August growing on open slopes and roadsides. The fragile, watery fruits are larger than raspberries and often come in yellow as well as red. Their excellent flavor makes them ideal for eating right off the cane, and they make choice jam and jelly.

Red elderberry -- These are poisonous when raw. Cooked, these plentiful berries make a superb jelly. The berry's seed contains a chemical similar to cyanide that is destroyed by cooking. The tiny berries grow in fist-size clumps on shrubs that can reach 9 feet tall.

Trailing raspberry -- Deriving their name from the trailing rootstock of the plant, the aggregate fruit is red, soft, shiny and tasty. They can be found in mossy woods from sea level to alpine reaches. The shiny leaves have five leaflets, and the fruit is often found with only a few drupelets. They are good raw or cooked as jelly, jam or in pie.

Nagoonberry -- Also called wineberry, this tiny raspberry cousin favors forest clearings with acidic soil. Leaves have three-toothed leaflets like the strawberry. Its single fruit differs from the trailing raspberry in having many lobes and a deep garnet color.

Cloudberry -- These plants only get several inches tall and grow singly in bogs or wet acidic woodlands. They produce single tasty berries resembling peach-colored salmonberries.

Red currant -- These wild relatives of the gooseberry bush favor margins and slash. The round berries grow in drooping clusters under the foliage. They can be eaten raw and are used in jelly and juice, but seeds must be strained out.

Crowberry -- Common in bogs and alpine meadows, the little round black berries grow on trailing evergreen shrubs up to 8 inches tall. Leaves are dark green, small and needle-like. Berries can be eaten raw or cooked in jelly and pie.

High bush cranberry -- The shrubs, which grow up to 8 feet, have round, red, sour fruit, but if picked after the first frost and sweetened, they are tasty and rich in vitamin C. Large, flat seeds need to be removed. Berries also can be used as fish bait.

Low bush cranberry -- Also called lingonberry, this common little plant of forests and tundra has hard, shiny, evergreen leaves. The tart maroon-colored fruit is popular for sauce, jelly, jam, relish, bread, cookies and pie.

Bog cranberry -- Often overlooked because of their tiny size, they grow in bogs on thread-like stems and are barely 1/3 of an inch across. They are sweetest after the first frost. The berries freeze well and are used in sauce, jelly, jam, juice, relish, bread, cookies and pie.