by Cheryl Leschasin
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 15/97) - Throughout history, autumn has been a time to harvest, hunt, preserve, dry or otherwise collect food to last through the winter.

In parts of the NWT, now is the time to think about hauling out the berry-picking pails and head for that secret cranberry, raspberry or saskatoon patch.

There are plenty of kinds of edible berries abundant in southern parts of the NWT, but some varieties can be found as far north as Inuvik and Iqaluit.

Five members of the saxifrage family can be found in the NWT. Wild gooseberry had a reddish to purple fruit, bristly blackcurrants have a black, bristly fruit, wild red currants have a bright red fruit, skunk currants have a dark red fruit and Northern blackcurrants have black fruit.

Particularly tasty are the Northern blackcurrant, wild red currant and gooseberry. Gooseberries and currants also have loads of pectin, making them perfect for use in jellies, pies and sauces.

Three members of the heather family commonly harvested from the wilds of the North are bearberries, cranberries and blueberries, which can be dried, stewed, used in baking or eaten as is.

Raspberries, strawberries and saskatoons are members of the rose family that grow in the North and have long been considered favorite berries for almost any purpose.

One other member of the rose family used in the NWT for jam, jelly, syrup, tea or just plain eating is rosehip, a bright scarlet fruit which grows on rose shrubs.

One of the most Northern berries, which grows north past the treeline and up to the arctic coast is cloudberry, also known as bake apple or akpik.

A cloudberry resembles a raspberry, but it is not ripe when it is red. The fruit must turn a pale yellow before it can be eaten.

Cranberries are definitely one of the most popular of the Northern berries for use in cooking.

Recipes like Creamy Cranberry Mousse, Brandied Cranberries and Cranberry Bread grace the insides of the xxxNews/North Community Cookbook, which includes recipe submissions from across the Arctic.

Margaret Hawkins submitted both the Creamy Cranberry Mousse and the Brandied Cranberries recipes and says the mousse is really a special treat. "The creamy cranberry mousse is excellent. I usually make those recipes at Christmas for my family," she says. She also makes the specialty on occasion for Arctic Islands Lodge in the Central Arctic.