# I'll be your huckleberry



## izbnso (May 12, 2007)

I have finally begun excavating the overgrown lot that adjoins our new house. We moved in last summer and between un-packing and minor medical emergencies I am only now venturing into the "woods" to see what I can see. It is about an acre of never remotely developed woods on a corner lot. Mostly it is tall skinny oaks, but there is also a copious amount of smilax and Virginia creeper. I had pretty much decided that I needed to clean it out so that the kids could play with a lower likelihood of running into snakes. 

Imagine my delight when I discovered at least a dozen huckleberry bushes (mainly covered in the afore mentioned smilax)!!!! So with a set of badly sun burnt shoulders (and one currently unidentified baby snake now adjusting to life in a jar) I am counting so many chickens before they hatch. What shall I do with my veritable field of fortune?

We used to pick huckleberries when I was little, buckets and buckets of them. Our most often used recipe was: First pick a bucket or pail full of huckleberries. Second, stick your entire head into the bucket and eat as many as you could before mom came along and whacked you in the back of the head saying that if you kept that up you wouldn't get any huckleberry pancakes for breakfast.

When the time comes (some are already beginning to ripen others are still set with flowers) I don't want to treat them as a replacement for blueberries. Their texture is different and their flavor more tart. 

Does any body have any really special ideas to highlight this berry?


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## tessa (Sep 9, 2007)

how about jam,ice cream,apple and huckleberry stewed up for pies or preserves, spicy sauce for pork or venison
in to muffins, juice,


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## izbnso (May 12, 2007)

Jams, of course, love them. 
Had thought sorbet, but ice cream would be better.

A spicy sauce, you say, and what would you suggest?

I saw something years ago on the Food Network about a company out west somewhere that made a chocolate huckleberry bon-bon or something. Production was limited due to their main source of supply for the wild berry was to put a sign out asking to buy berries others had foraged for in the woods. 

Hmmm, huckleberry candy?


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## tessa (Sep 9, 2007)

i was thinking something a bit like plum but with huckleberries, maybe flavoured with a little ginger and a tiny bit of chilli for some zing with some fresh black pepper and smoked paprika

or for the chocolate thing do you have access to a dehydrator you could dry some then mix it through white chocolate, or cook some down with a little cherry brandy or vanilla vodka and then add to dark chocolate ganache and make truffles
with or mix with some other berries and white rum and a little sugar then make it in to a terrine with a sparkling wine jello
they will freeze really well just by themselves, i always freeze berries int he container and use them straight from frozen.
add them to cooked pears with some lavender and accompany them with pork
crush them a wee bit and add to hot toffee and make huckleberry shards to go with icecream
quote=izbnso;217640]Jams, of course, love them. 
Had thought sorbet, but ice cream would be better.

A spicy sauce, you say, and what would you suggest?

I saw something years ago on the Food Network about a company out west somewhere that made a chocolate huckleberry bon-bon or something. Production was limited due to their main source of supply for the wild berry was to put a sign out asking to buy berries others had foraged for in the woods. 

Hmmm, huckleberry candy? [/quote]


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## psyco6stringer (Apr 16, 2008)

To be truthful ,Tessa has it right , a lot of pastry variations to them ..but they can be kind of savory too .. break them down right before the sweet ripend stage and you have something for a base for a nice seasonal vinagerette ..over a little frisse with crushed pistachios and lime . Or could use a protien like a pork chop grilled and use 5 or so with a chili or 2 and have a nice glaze. Carmalized onions 2 .. just match the sweet with acid and bite


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