Labor Day brings to mind different things. A long weekend of rest. A bittersweet end to summer. A final moment to share a backyard feast with neighbors, family, and friends.
And at its root, we observe Labor Day as a nation to honor the contributions of American workers, whose collective efforts have shaped the course of our lives in ways that cannot be understated. In the American seafood industry, my thoughts go to the fishermen, the processors, the barge workers, the delivery drivers — all of the people who play integral roles in filling our home kitchens with wild-caught fish from Alaska. Partaking in this abundance is something that’s easy to take for granted when it’s so easy to pull a variety of Alaskan species from your freezer, as if the sea were in your backyard.
Lest those efforts be obscured by time or by space, hidden in the past, in the far flung reaches of our communities, or in the steady hum of our own day-to-day tasks, Labor Day is a day to take a collective pause.
For the occasion, it seems more than fitting this week to share with you an essay from commercial fisherman Melanie Brown, whose summer work as a set netter in Bristol Bay is now rewarded with what she refers to as the fruits of her labor, an extended pause on land to feast on the fall harvests — coho salmon, foraged berries and mushrooms — and begin considering ways to preserve these harvests for the coming winter.
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Fruits of Labor
By Melanie Brown
There is a sweet spot that happens during the growth season in Alaska when the salmon start to taper down and the land pushes out the last of its fruits. This vibrancy brings together a nexus of seafood, berries, and the fruiting bodies of mushrooms. Having come off a season of salmon and having fish in the freezer knowing that so much of harvest time is still to come makes a person feel quite lucky.
My life shifts from the land of tundra in Bristol Bay to the tall trees of Southeast Alaska where my winter work is centered. This rainforest is a temperate zone that fosters a lot of growth and each day it is possible to encounter many types of berries that grow on high bushes if you know where to look. Going up to the mountains and seeking higher elevation can put you in the zone of alpine tundra that has many similar characteristics of more Northern tundra latitudes.
The rainy part of living in a rainforest can be hard to get used to but without the rain, the riches of the forest would not exist. In this zone, until rain is replaced by snow that blankets the ground, there are mushrooms to be found.
The snow in Southeast usually comes around the time of fall feasting but until that time gathering the fruits of the season shifts the kitchen into more of a food lab where decisions are made around what to freeze, dry, pickle or turn into jam. Of course, there is the option of living in the moment instead of thinking about what to save for the winter — to simply enjoy what is found when it is fresh.
Coho are the latest salmon that run home in Southeast and their taste falls somewhere between the richness of king salmon and the leaner muscle of sockeye. I love to put fresh blueberries on my filets or portions. The berries steam and plump up when cooked, and sometimes pop, providing a vivid tartness to the bites that include a warm, juicy berry. Mushrooms that are torn or cut small and tossed in oil with seasoning bring an earthy grounding to ocean salted seafood when cooked together. Tossing berries, mushrooms and cut pieces of bacon will bring tartness, earth and smoke to your salmon portion.
For those of you who live in city centers and are not able to go and forage for berries or mushrooms, there are many options to choose from at farmers markets and no lack of mushrooms. I would recommend looking for porcini or golden chanterelles. Shiitakes are another mushroom that works well on salmon and shows up at box stores and groceries. You might also find beech mushrooms and maitakes in cellophane, which are also good and affordable. If you are looking to source blueberries, it is possible to find wild blueberries in the freezer section at the grocery. A smear of jam in lieu of berries is another way to add color and flavor to your palate.
Wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying the fruits of where you live and finding ways to incorporate your favorites into your wild Alaskan meals.
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Before signing off today, I wanted to express my sincerest gratitude to you, our dear members. We were so incredibly moved by the outpouring of sweet messages and well wishes that we received in response to Arron’s tribute to his late father Walt Kallenberg, whose work set a place at the table for this generation of Kallenbergs. On behalf of Arron, our children and myself — thank you so much for sticking with us — during the good times, and also the hard ones. We have never been more motivated to continue carrying forth this magnificent legacy.
Wishing you a restful, fulfilled Labor Day weekend.
Live Wild,
Monica
Pictured above: Clockwise from top left: A porcini mushroom nestled in rich earth; a harvest of golden chanterelles; a baked fillet of coho, topped with plump blueberries and crisp, wild mushrooms; the prep step of a wonderful fall meal.
