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Huckleberry, oh huckleberry, you delicious, juicy treat,
A fruit by any other name is nary quite as sweet.
How did I go 28 years without you in my life?
It’s my own damn fault for not visiting Montana sooner, where your burgeoning bushes thrive.
Fudge and ice cream sandwiches and melt-in-your-mouth huck pie,
Lollipops, marinade and even chapstick—your diversity is not a lie!
It may be awhile until we meet again,
But you’ll always be in my heart—and stomach—you pretty purple friend.
*****
Travel tip: While huckleberries were, literally, everywhere we looked in Montana and parts of Wyoming, the Huckleberry Patch in Hungry Horse might very well have been one of my favorite stops throughout our entire road trip!
I think anything branded with huckleberry is OK by me. Funny enough, I think the syrup is the one thing we DIDN’T try (mainly because we had just bought mixed berry syrup in Wyoming and that shit’s expensive!).
I need to catch up on my berry knowledge. Never knew huckleberrys were real. never seen one. never eaten one. never smelled one. looks like a bluberry incognito to me. that ice cream looks good… nom nom nom nom
It’s like a combination between a blueberry and a strawberry, only the most delicious fruity morsel you likely will ever taste in your lifetime! I highly recommend it =)
Commented before on living in N. Idaho… have to jump in again… We have a tiny cheezy theme park – Silverwood, a little north of CDA… They had the BEST huckleberry cheesecake ice cream. I dream of it to this day and its been 15 years since I’ve eaten it! SOOOOOO stinkin’ good!
Hey Kristin! I laughed as I read this. My boyfriend recently went to visit family in Montana (Whitefish and Eureka) and he brought me back Huckleberry chapstick and jam! Love that stuff!
Love them huckleberries. Used to pick them in WA state. Had a small bag get buried to the back of the fridge and when discovered, they had fermented. Oh la la. Sure wish someone would sell me some huckleberry liquor.
It’s so hard to reach from the South/East Coast! I’d been trying to make it here since I was a teen, but airfare was always so pricey, which is why we made a mission to visit Wyoming and Montana by car before we were no longer Californians.
I– like the others who have commented– have never tasted a huckleberry. This place looks amazing though, and I do love the color purple. Are those huckleberry and white chocolate covered pretzels? They look delicious. 🙂
That is exactly what those are! Sadly, I didn’t try them–though a general rule of thumb is I like anything pretzel with a sweet coating!–as I had already filled my basket with all sorts of other huckleberry wares =)
Oh how I love this post! Huckleberry soft serve while sitting on the deck at Many Glacier is one of my favorite things ever! You can also order some delicious huckleberry preserves from http://www.evagates.com/ , if you ever need a huckleberry fix. I don’t even like preserves much, but those are really good. Also, if you are like me huckleberry vodka can really hit the spot 🙂
They seem to be very common in Montana and Wyoming but nowhere else. I’m surprised you didn’t encounter them growing up in Oregon, but some people say they’ve picked them there, other Oregonians say they’ve never seen them in their lives. Who to listen to? 😉
Where I grew up, in western WA, huckleberries were and are everywhere!!!!!!!!! Along country roads for the red ones, under the timber cover for the evergreen (blue) ones, and in the foothills of the mountains for the blue deciduous that are most like “blueberries”. Family outings for the last ones included bear safety lessons, as our ursine friends like them, as well. It seems strange to me to see all this hyperbole in the commercial world. All these berries are in the same family – interestingly the same family as rhododendrons and azaleas.
I’m seriously thinking I might need to buy a share in one of these huckleberry farms in Washington or Montana…the funny thing is that I haven’t actually eaten a plane huckleberry, only huck products! None of them were growing on the bushes while we were there due the cold and the fact that the season isn’t until August.
Interesting, Kristin. I have NEVER eaten commercially prepared huckleberry products. I am only familiar w/ au naturale. However, for the best of the West for flavor – it is the little wild blackberry that reigns supreme. That is another PNW native, not commercially marketed. Marionberry comes closest to that for flavor. We don’t have “huckleberry” farms, only blueberry. Like so many things, it IS a matter of personal preferences and, often, childhood experiences and memories.
I’m visiting the Rockies this fall and I was told, under no circumstances whatsoever, was I to leave the region without trying a Huckleberry milkshake. Did you ever give that a try along with the pie?
This could be a problem for me too, as I’m a milkshake addict. I fear I’ll try one and then never come home. 😀
It’s my own damn fault for not visiting Montana sooner, where your burgeoning bushes thrive.
Girl, you know just what to say.
Although huckleberry lip balm? For anyone who is wondering… huckleberry syrup is incredible.
Here’s to purple power!
I think anything branded with huckleberry is OK by me. Funny enough, I think the syrup is the one thing we DIDN’T try (mainly because we had just bought mixed berry syrup in Wyoming and that shit’s expensive!).
I need to catch up on my berry knowledge. Never knew huckleberrys were real. never seen one. never eaten one. never smelled one. looks like a bluberry incognito to me. that ice cream looks good… nom nom nom nom
It’s like a combination between a blueberry and a strawberry, only the most delicious fruity morsel you likely will ever taste in your lifetime! I highly recommend it =)
Hehe, I didn’t realize they existed either which would explain why I thought the post was going to be about Huckleberry Finn!
Or Huckleberry Hound!
(Yes, they totally exist and will be haunting my dreams until I find them again!)
Commented before on living in N. Idaho… have to jump in again… We have a tiny cheezy theme park – Silverwood, a little north of CDA… They had the BEST huckleberry cheesecake ice cream. I dream of it to this day and its been 15 years since I’ve eaten it! SOOOOOO stinkin’ good!
I had huckleberry ice cream…and huckleberry cheesecake fudge…but never huckleberry cheesecake ice cream! My life has new purpose!
Hey Kristin! I laughed as I read this. My boyfriend recently went to visit family in Montana (Whitefish and Eureka) and he brought me back Huckleberry chapstick and jam! Love that stuff!
That’s hilarious! I had the jam (yum) but not the chapstick…but I imagine it tastes a lot like Lipsmackers!
I’ve never seen a Huckleberry. I learned something new today.
They look a lot like blueberries but taste SO much sweeter. Huck pie is pretty much the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
I have some huckleberry lotion that I savor…and still have after two years from my trip to Montana.
Love them huckleberries. Used to pick them in WA state. Had a small bag get buried to the back of the fridge and when discovered, they had fermented. Oh la la. Sure wish someone would sell me some huckleberry liquor.
I didn’t even think to try the liquor! Damn. Now I need to plan a trip back, stat.
They have it and you didn’t try it? What’s up with that? Maybe we should meet there for a toast.
I’m clearly a huckleberry failure–I didn’t even see that! Yes, I’d toast to (and with) some huck liquor!
I should have known you’d be a poet, too. =)
When it comes to food, I have been known to wax poetic at times… 😉
#Jealous.
I’m always wanted to visit Montana. Something about sweeping landscapes and that deliciousness right up there. I need that.
It’s so hard to reach from the South/East Coast! I’d been trying to make it here since I was a teen, but airfare was always so pricey, which is why we made a mission to visit Wyoming and Montana by car before we were no longer Californians.
I– like the others who have commented– have never tasted a huckleberry. This place looks amazing though, and I do love the color purple. Are those huckleberry and white chocolate covered pretzels? They look delicious. 🙂
That is exactly what those are! Sadly, I didn’t try them–though a general rule of thumb is I like anything pretzel with a sweet coating!–as I had already filled my basket with all sorts of other huckleberry wares =)
Oh how I love this post! Huckleberry soft serve while sitting on the deck at Many Glacier is one of my favorite things ever! You can also order some delicious huckleberry preserves from http://www.evagates.com/ , if you ever need a huckleberry fix. I don’t even like preserves much, but those are really good. Also, if you are like me huckleberry vodka can really hit the spot 🙂
Huckleberry vodka chased by huckleberry preserves? This website is dangerous; you just opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me… =)
(Also, the Gravatar my blog assigned you looks like a huckleberry does it not? Irony…or Fate?)
definitely fate… 🙂 luckily in real life I do not resemble a huckleberry.
Uhm, those bear claws look RIDICULOUS. And this is strange, but I don’t know that I’ve ever had a huckleberry….
They seem to be very common in Montana and Wyoming but nowhere else. I’m surprised you didn’t encounter them growing up in Oregon, but some people say they’ve picked them there, other Oregonians say they’ve never seen them in their lives. Who to listen to? 😉
Wow. That’s a LOT of huckleberry…
And I was not happy to share a single bite of my pie either!
Where I grew up, in western WA, huckleberries were and are everywhere!!!!!!!!! Along country roads for the red ones, under the timber cover for the evergreen (blue) ones, and in the foothills of the mountains for the blue deciduous that are most like “blueberries”. Family outings for the last ones included bear safety lessons, as our ursine friends like them, as well. It seems strange to me to see all this hyperbole in the commercial world. All these berries are in the same family – interestingly the same family as rhododendrons and azaleas.
I’m seriously thinking I might need to buy a share in one of these huckleberry farms in Washington or Montana…the funny thing is that I haven’t actually eaten a plane huckleberry, only huck products! None of them were growing on the bushes while we were there due the cold and the fact that the season isn’t until August.
Interesting, Kristin. I have NEVER eaten commercially prepared huckleberry products. I am only familiar w/ au naturale. However, for the best of the West for flavor – it is the little wild blackberry that reigns supreme. That is another PNW native, not commercially marketed. Marionberry comes closest to that for flavor. We don’t have “huckleberry” farms, only blueberry. Like so many things, it IS a matter of personal preferences and, often, childhood experiences and memories.
I’m visiting the Rockies this fall and I was told, under no circumstances whatsoever, was I to leave the region without trying a Huckleberry milkshake. Did you ever give that a try along with the pie?
This could be a problem for me too, as I’m a milkshake addict. I fear I’ll try one and then never come home. 😀
And now I’m hungry!! Who knew the abundance of uses for the fruit!
YUM! I went many years without trying it either- and now I’m hooked!
Your hoodie even matches, love it!
GAH. My favorite berries in all the land!
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GAH. My favorite berries in all the land!