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
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
Preheat oven to 250˚F. Mash berries thoroughly in a large bowl. Mix in coconut and rolled oats, then the sugar. Stir in the flour until the dough is firm. Drop by spoonful’s onto an oiled cookie sheet. Flatten each mound with the bottom of a glass. Bake until hard. The end product is a semi-sweet cookie.
Variations:
- Substitute an equal amount of honey for the sugar.
- Substitute an equal amount of cornmeal for the flour.
Karen Jettmar
Gustavus, Alaska