Ode to Fall

This fall, friends Kelli and Dave delivered a bag of these beauties to my front door. Avid hikers, these two are learning more about what to harvest in our local woods and it is so fun to see the delight on their faces when they share their bounty. Friends sharing foraged ingredients and locally made jams, sauces and jellies from their harvests with me and my family this year have been such a gift! It has been a season of changes and challenges that have kept me away from my normal foraging and putting up food, so each time someone has dropped off harvested items, it feels like they have, "Picked me!"

So thank you friend, for picking me, for picking Forest Fresh Alaska for your place to share your foraging, hunting, and fishing thoughts, ideas, inspiration and ingredients. I am inspired and encouraged to create more sharable recipes and to get outside to continue our mission of creating crave-worthy recipes utilizing ingredients from the ocean forest to the rainforest.

Pacific Golden Chanterelles (Cantharellus formosus) grow in Southeast Alaska. You can probably tell from their color that they are high in Vitamin A. Not only are they delicious, but they are chock full of medicinal qualities. Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, chanterelles have been used to help wounds heal, help prevent respiratory tract infections, treat eye disorders, remove intestinal worms and to prevent and even treat cancer.

Identify Chanterelles

• Egg-yolk yellow (light yellow to yellow-orange) in color. The entire outside of the mushroom is the same color.
• Young chanterelles have a flat cap. Mature chanterelles have a funnel shape.
• Has clear ridges.
• Has a solid stalk that doesn't change color when bruised or cut.
• Normally found from July until October.