Alaska Studies: Fireweed Honey

Alaska Studies: Fireweed Honey

Our plan is to use these last months of living in Alaska to learn as much as we can about this great state.

We have taken nature walks and identified Alaskan bugs, trees, birds, animal and even fish and plants.  We have a couple camping trips planned one that we will hike 2.5 miles in and sleep in a Yurt, another is a trip to Denali National Park where we will stay with a group of families. I have never been there so I am really looking forward to it.  

I have had in my possession for a long time a book "Collecting and using Alaska's wild Berries and other wild products" I thought 'what a great way to teach the boys what is good to eat around these parts.' I made a list of the things we would collect and make. The list is as follows: Watermelon berries for watermelon berry jam, Salmon berries for Salmon berry fruit leather, Rose hips for Rose hip tea, High-bush cranberries for Quick High bush cranberry syrup and finally Fireweed for Fireweed Honey. We can collect all of these from our yard mostly , this year the watermelon berries didn't come back like they usually do so we can collect a few but will have to go search out enough for the recipe.

Yesterday since the Fireweed is starting to bloom I thought it was a good time to start  with the Fireweed Honey

First about Fireweed... it is a tall perennial herb, with numerous dense, narrow lance-shaped leaves. Bright reddish-purple flowers grow in long terminal clusters and are very showy. Blooms begin at the base of the cluster and mature up the stem as the season progresses. The young tender shoots can be used in salads. Young stems of the fireweed plant can be peeled and eaten raw, or in salads. Blossoms can be used for making honey and jelly.

Most local Alaskans know that when the blooms start to show the days of summer will be over in about 6 weeks. The leaves turn fiery red in the fall.

The boys picked the flowers and helped with the making of the honey of course I did the canning part, River did the stirring over the really hot pan Atticus poured in ingredients. It was a family effort.

River really enjoys helping in the kitchen now so any chance he gets he takes it.

The recipe for Fireweed Honey

  or Aka 

Homesteaders Honey 

taken from the book

 Collecting and using Alaska's wild Berries and other wild products

put out by the Cooperative Extension Service University of Alaska Fairbanks

10 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups boiling water

1 teaspoon alum

30 white clover blossoms

18 red clover blossoms

18 fireweed blossoms (1 or 2 stalks)

Sterilize pint or half-pint canning jars and prepare lids. Boil together sugar, water and alum for 10 minutes; maintain steady boil on low heat. Remove from heat. Add blossoms and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain mixture through cheesecloth. Immediately pour honey into hot canning jars. leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe jar rims and add prepared two-piece lids. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath. Yeild: 8 cups

The finished product. Did I mention how much these two little boys LOVE honey. Atticus would eat a peanut butter honey sandwich every meal if I allowed it. River usually just wants to eat spoonfuls of it. After it cooled down a bit both boys tried it out and begged to have another spoonful and another. We will probably make more because for one like I just said they love the stuff and another thing is it makes great gifts!!!