Help with huckleberry recipe

[Nick Z]

Hello all,

I currently have at my disposal 25 lbs of huckleberries, 10 lbs of wild flower honey, Huckleberry Haven wild huckleberry tea...."

-Andy

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread. But where did you get 25 pounds of huckleberries? I haven't been able to find even five pounds in the wild here and we have several species.

Do you know what species of huckleberry it is? Or common name? For example: Here we have evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium ovatum), black huckleberry, and red huckleberry.

Huckleberries are a rare and expensive fruit here because they cannot be cultivated.

 

[Alcoholic Andy]

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread. But where did you get 25 pounds of huckleberries? I haven't been able to find even five pounds in the wild here and we have several species.

Do you know what species of huckleberry it is? Or common name? For example: Here we have evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium ovatum), black huckleberry, and red huckleberry.

Huckleberries are a rare and expensive fruit here because they cannot be cultivated.

From what I could find it is this:
Common Huckleberry - Vaccinium membranaceum
Other Names: Vaccinium globulare
Not to be a smart ass but I found them out in the woods. I have lots of free time on my hands, took me 4 hours to pick a gallon! Just had to beat the lone grizzly bear that ran off all the black bears in the area. For instance, early in the picking the hillside was loaded with ripe huckleberries everywhere. Found this patch late in the evening and was tired of getting eaten by mosquitoes. Came back at 8 am the next morning and they were all gone. Found bear dung in multiple locations, then ran into a game warden who confirmed what I found.

So basically I timed it by looking daily by the end of july. And once found started at lower elevations and worked my way up the mountain. Until choke cherries were ripe. Hope that helps.

 

[Nick Z]

It does, thank you. In my area I think they are called "black huckleberry". I tried to find some but I was too late in the season. I'm not even sure the place I looked (Larch Mountain) actually had black huckleberry plants or something else. My plant ID skills are still in their infancy.

I am attempting to grow them from nursery starts (there is a local, native plant nursery near me) but huckleberries are notorious for not surviving outside their natural habitats, let alone producing fruit in gardens.

I think evergreen huckleberry (vaccinium ovatum) is a little more amenable to cultivation but still isn't reliable. I don't know if those are native to your area. I'm surprised Montana and the pacific northwest share the black/common huckleberry species.

A professor was trying to domesticate huckleberries and made some progress but his funding was cut.

Choke cherries are also native to my area. I couldn't find any this year though.