The Huckleberry, the most prized of all wild berries, are plump, purple berries that grow wild in the Rocky Mountains. The berries cannot be commercially grown and therefore must be handpicked one by one in the remote mountains of the Northwest.   The harvest is not easy because the wild berries are loved by grizzly bears, black bears, and other animals.  Asking a grizzly not to eat the berries from your secret spot just doesn't work.  This wilderness factor and the scrumptious taste make Huckleberries a true delicacy.  This treat is a taste cross between a raspberry and a blueberry.   Western huckleberries (also called bilberries and whortleberries) belong to the genus Vaccinium.   

The Ultimate Huckleberry

John Driscoll

Article Launched: 10/21/2005 08:47:00 AM PDT

The two sides had already degraded each other's mothers, social status and physiques.

But the ultimate cut-down was still to come.

”You wouldn't even know what a huckleberry looks like.”

In Montana, if you don't know what a huckleberry looks like, you're nobody. My wife, well she was 12 at the time, and her cousin found themselves on the losing end of the verbal brawl on the banks of Lake Koocanusa outside Libby. The city slicker Californians -- yeah, from McKinleyville -- had nothing to fire back.

Huckleberries are to Montana like red blood cells are to the human body. They course through the state's veins. Huckleberry ice cream, pancakes, syrup and a host of other products are available everywhere. Even the fast food joints offer huckleberry milkshakes.

Huckleberry trivia

•        Another name for the huckleberry is "bilberry".  During World War II, British pilots ate bilberries before night flights to enhance their vision.  Huckleberries are also useful treating diarrhea, hemorrhoids and sugar metabolism problems.
   
•        Huckleberries have pink flowers and blueberries typically have white flowers.
   
•        Huckleberries were used by indigenous Indians as a source of food and as dyes.
   
•        Huckleberries only grow in the wild, and local pickers compete with bears for their crop and call huckleberries "purple gold". A gallon of huckleberries usually sells for between $15 and $30, but in poor harvest years they can fetch almost $50.
   
•        No one has yet succeeded in growing huckleberries commercially. Because of this, huckleberries are a true "natural food" as no fertilizers or pesticides are used.
   
•        Huckleberry was a turn of phrase from the early 1800's used to describe something modest or inferior.  Huckleberry Finn was the name given by Mark Twain to his character in Tom Sawyer designating a fellow of lower social standing than Tom.  "I'm your huckleberry" was a popular expression of affection in the late 1800's, and don't forget "Huckleberry Hound", a cartoon show from the late 1950s featuring a laid-back dog.
   
•        One little known huckleberry fact is that the leaf of the huckleberry is used by naturopathic practitioners to treat sugar diabetes, and disorders of the kidneys and gallbladder. The active principle in both is neomyrtilicine.  Huckleberries contain tannins and anthocyanins which improves vision and stimulates circulation by strengthening capillaries.