If you are out picking huckleberries (or been out picking), I am sure you understand all the necessary preparation needed before you head out into your favorite picking spot. But have you heard some of the fun huckleberry stories?
I found this article, Up front: Keep your friends close and your huckleberries closer by Kathy Hedberg, of the Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
Huckleberries reportedly are thick this year, so if you’re planning to go out into the woods and gather yourself some, there’s
one very important thing to bring along:
A person who won’t eat them all before the bucket is full.
I have heard that this is a serious problem among pickers! Obviously, finding yourself a person to pick with who is not eating as many huckleberries as they are picking is important!
And about describing the taste of huckleberry …
People who have never eaten them and think they’re equivalent to commercially grown blueberries don’t know what they’re talking about. Blueberries are to huckleberries what Kool-Aid is to red wine.
Great comparison! We published an article on this very subject a few weeks ago: How to Describe the Taste of Huckleberries
If people find a good patch of huckleberries, they’ll pick it clean and then lie about it so nobody else can find them. People guard their huckleberry patches better than they guard their virginity, which isn’t saying a lot, but I’m just making a comparison.
Yes, most pickers will never reveal their favorite picking spot. Or they will tell you it is on ‘No-Tellum Mountain’ or other such fictional places!
You will also find that, unlike fat, tasteless store-bought blueberries, huckleberries, which are so flavor-intense they will make your eyeballs pop out, are also about the size of a gnat. You can pick and pick and pick and pick, and after an hour or two end up with about a half a cup.
Huckleberries are typically smaller than most berries — and often harder to find!
If you decide to go huckleberry picking for the first time, I would heed the tips found in the funny huckleberry stories listed in the full article!
