The Castle Mountain Resort Huckleberry Festival on Gravenstafel Mountain (Alberta, Canada) was held last weekend. Reports of an abundant huckleberry crop was apparent, according to the video below.
According to the Global News website:
Huckleberries ripe for the picking at annual festival
On Saturday, many braved the Gravenstafel Mountain above Castle Mountain Resort to pick bushel after bushel of sweet, blue huckleberries. The Huckleberry Festival has been a tradition at the resort for decades now, and it provides a rare opportunity for outdoors lovers to enjoy the mountains in the summer.
As for the fruits themselves, huckleberries are in the blueberry family, and grow best at higher altitudes. “They’re quite sweet and they don’t have a pit so you don’t have to worry about spitting them out or cleaning them for a pie or a cheesecake and they freeze very well,” says Stewart. “There are actually four types of huckleberries on our mountain from various sizes to various colours. And they grow about five hundred miles on either side of the Canadian border at this elevation.”
Elsewhere, in northern California, Karen Pavone, talks about her huckleberry picking adventure with her accomplished forager friend, Elizabeth:
Huckleberry Heaven
A fruitful forage depends on good timing. Start your quest too early in the season and the object of your desire may not be ripe (or even visible in the case of those elusive winter mushrooms). Wait too long and you’ll likely find vines and branches stripped clean by birds and other critters who beat you to the harvest. In Northern California, August is the perfect month to forage for the seasonal wild blackberries and huckleberries that grow like weeds in our coastal hills.
Karen’s article is an easy read with lots of wonderful pictures. She also includes Elizabeth’s grandmother’s tart recipe:
Check out the original article for her Huckleberry Tart Recipe!
