The long nights of the winter season invite us to gather indoors and share food and tastes saved from the summer and fall. I created these recipes to make some small shareable bites that celebrate Alaska’s wild flavors. Wild mushrooms are a favorite of mine. Porcini, puffballs, morels, chicken of the woods, or even a mix from the grocery store, add depth and umami. The mushroom sauté recipe can be frozen and saved for winter. Berries add a bright mix of sweet and sour flavor and a bit of acid. I love freezing lowbush and bog cranberries to have on hand for winter cooking.

Herbs and greens can add wild accents as well. Sweetgale is a shrub with aromatic leaves that is found along bogs and lakeshores. In Northern Europe, it was used to flavor beer before hops, and in North America it was valued as an insect repellent, a preservative for berries, and a medicinal herb for skin and stomach ailments. Labrador tea is a small evergreen that has been gathered for centuries by Indigenous peoples across the North. Brewed as a warming tea, it was also used as a medicine for many ailments. Its leaves lend a resinous, comforting flavor when used sparingly in cooking. Wild chives and other Allium relatives grow fresh and green in spring, their onion-like bite brightening soups, eggs, or fish. Historically, they were gathered for both food and medicine, thought to aid digestion and provide gentle antiseptic qualities.

In the recipes that follow, mushrooms, herbs, and berries come together in simple pastries and small bites that are perfect for sharing: golden mushroom triangles filled with umami richness, and crisp phyllo cups brimming with Brie and spiced cranberry chutney. Both can be made ahead, frozen, and baked as needed.