Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Where I live, huckleberries are unheard of so therefore, I've never been quite sure what they are except that they seem to be good for pies.
Two years ago, I came across huckleberries in a greenhouse and bought a dozen plants, not knowing how high they grow or what they are meant to look like.
They grew maybe a foot high - like actual plants, not bushes or anything and soon enough developed beautiful blue-looking berries, like smaller blueberries. However, they tasted just awful - like grass. I couldn't imagine making a pie out of them. Thinking they might only look ripe, and not be ripe, I left them alone and periodically tasted them. Eventually they tasted a little less grassy but they certainly never reached the level of tasty.
So is that what huckleberries are supposed to be like? If so, do they taste better cooked into a pie or jam? I never did anything with them.
Here we have blueberries, and saskatoons, which are a smaller but sweeter version of blueberries and grow on small trees. Huckleberries looked like they should taste similiar although the plants themselves looked nothing like bushes or trees. Are there different versions of huckleberries and because this was a new thing in this greenhouse they got the wrong kind?
I remember gathering wild huckleberries as a kid in western PA. They always tasted good to us - the problem was getting enough home so mom could make a pie!
Here in Kentucky huckleberries grow wild. They are a small woody bush 6 inchs to two feet high and turn purple when they are ripe. They taste much like blueberries, but the berries are smaller and more purple.
Sounds like you bought somethng else. Anyhow, they make great pies, or canned, great toppings for cakes, pancakes, whatever. Great in muffins.
I think that there are more than one type of berries that are called "huckleberries" The ones in my state grow in the mountains and are really a Mountain Blueberry, great in pancakes, jams, jellies and syrup. Western Washington has larger bushes that have either red or blue "huckleberries" I think these are a different species of plant than our huckleberries, ours taste like mild flavored blueberries. Huckleberries around the rest of the country I have no idea about.
We picked them in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as children...we couldn't get enough...tastier and sweeter than blueberries...as far as I remember; we always ate them all before we got home.
They're common here in North Idaho. While out on the ATV I've come across some mountain tops almost solid with huckleberry bushes. There is quite a bit of commercial picking around here...they sell for around $40 per gallon. Some plants will produce berries while others don't, they seem to be pretty elevation sensitive.
Where I live, huckleberries are unheard of so therefore, I've never been quite sure what they are except that they seem to be good for pies.
Two years ago, I came across huckleberries in a greenhouse and bought a dozen plants, not knowing how high they grow or what they are meant to look like.
They grew maybe a foot high - like actual plants, not bushes or anything and soon enough developed beautiful blue-looking berries, like smaller blueberries. However, they tasted just awful - like grass. I couldn't imagine making a pie out of them. Thinking they might only look ripe, and not be ripe, I left them alone and periodically tasted them. Eventually they tasted a little less grassy but they certainly never reached the level of tasty.
So is that what huckleberries are supposed to be like? If so, do they taste better cooked into a pie or jam? I never did anything with them.
Here we have blueberries, and saskatoons, which are a smaller but sweeter version of blueberries and grow on small trees. Huckleberries looked like they should taste similiar although the plants themselves looked nothing like bushes or trees. Are there different versions of huckleberries and because this was a new thing in this greenhouse they got the wrong kind?
This is the variety I grew up on in Western Washington:
You need to cook em. We use black nightshade which is in the same family. Green berries are toxic but they lose their toxicity as they get black and also when you cook them.
Thank you all. I do wonder what it was that I grew because I certainly didn't find them very tasty, although I had a bumper crop of them. One of the articles said they were tarter than blueberries, which my berries certainly were but most of you say huckleberries are sweet. I can't imagine huckleberries being as popular as they are if they all taste like mine did.
They also are said to be expensive because they aren't cultivated and yet I had a bumper crop of them. The same greenhouse has been selling them each year since the year I had them but I've never bought them again.
Is the flavour of huckleberries noticably different in different varieties and colours of the berries?
The nightshade, with berries that are toxic when unripe, and have a 'grassy' flavor. These are quick growing, smaller, similar care and growing conditions for tomatoes, pepino, pepprs, et. al.
A cranberry/blueberry (ericales) relative, with much tastier berries. These are bigger shrubs, similar growth habit and culture as blueberries.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
), and my grandfather made excellent wine with the juice.
