If there is one thing that is symbolic of Montana, it is summer Huckleberries. I remember moving to Montana as a young girl and going hiking with one of my friends and her family and tasting, for the first time, a wild huckleberry. It was an incredible experience and tasted like nothing I had ever had before. To compare a huckleberry to a blueberry, as some tend to do, is equivalent to comparing an overcooked pea to one fresh out of the pod.
Montanans who take huckleberries seriously are like fishermen who can't resist bragging about a wonderful fishing hole but will never divulge its location. There have been feuds involving firearms when one person encroaches on another's "private huckleberry patch". Huckleberries are typically only available in the wild during a very short season and are found at very specific elevation levels with a specific soil type and drainage. Part of the charm is that they are not easily foraged and it can take an hour to pick a few cups full, if there are even that many in a patch. One of the traditions we have established as a family is to go out together to pick huckleberries and then we have a big huckleberry pancake feast. It takes all of us to get enough to make it a worthwhile feast!
There are individuals who take the few weeks of huckleberry season to pick the berries and sell them to food purveyors around the state. We are the recipients of those individuals labors, and at the Coffee Pot Bakery Cafe, it is full on huckleberry season! Depending on quality of the season, Huckleberries go for $45-$65 per gallon, making them around $3.75 per cup. During this season, we make huckleberry pies, scones, coffee cakes, cheesecakes, huckleberry lattes and huckleberry chocolate bars. Phew. I'm beginning to sound like a character from "Forrest Gump"!
There are many wonderful things about Montana, and huckleberries are among the best. Come celebrate the huckleberry season!
Montanans who take huckleberries seriously are like fishermen who can't resist bragging about a wonderful fishing hole but will never divulge its location. There have been feuds involving firearms when one person encroaches on another's "private huckleberry patch". Huckleberries are typically only available in the wild during a very short season and are found at very specific elevation levels with a specific soil type and drainage. Part of the charm is that they are not easily foraged and it can take an hour to pick a few cups full, if there are even that many in a patch. One of the traditions we have established as a family is to go out together to pick huckleberries and then we have a big huckleberry pancake feast. It takes all of us to get enough to make it a worthwhile feast!
There are individuals who take the few weeks of huckleberry season to pick the berries and sell them to food purveyors around the state. We are the recipients of those individuals labors, and at the Coffee Pot Bakery Cafe, it is full on huckleberry season! Depending on quality of the season, Huckleberries go for $45-$65 per gallon, making them around $3.75 per cup. During this season, we make huckleberry pies, scones, coffee cakes, cheesecakes, huckleberry lattes and huckleberry chocolate bars. Phew. I'm beginning to sound like a character from "Forrest Gump"!
There are many wonderful things about Montana, and huckleberries are among the best. Come celebrate the huckleberry season!
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