The Huckleberry Experiment

okay,sorry that sounds like it is a movie title from the early 1970's...probably in the Intrigue or "Alternative Film" catagory.

This is a fruit with a reputation of being better after frost. The cold takes away the bitterness.

Well I have this year grow some huckleberries, picked some blue ones, and will wash them, dry them
and put them in the freezer, then try them. They are supposed to be very tart, but I like tart. I will let DG people how I fare.

anyone ever tried this?
Heather Y.

never tried the domesticated variety, but in the wild, they are well worth spending a hot, humid day in woods picking. They do have a tartness to them, but not sour.

Good way to get a little cooler on a hot humid day!
I tried thefreezer- I got a tart/sour taste but no bitter.
Frost could be anywhen from two to five weeks away. I am going to try to leave the rest on the bush until frost, though.
Heather

HeatherY: What variety of huckleberries are you growing? Or are these wild ones? Are they the annual garden huckleberry? Or the wild blueberries found in the western US?

This message was edited Dec 5, 2014 12:06 PM

I've never thought about growing huckleberries, but now I want to give it a try! I could make a huckleberry smoothie lol. I wonder how well these fruits would fare in New Mexico weather?

It is garden huckleberry.

A mid November very deep freeze followed by a dramatic storm and warm up together made all the rest of the berries ripe and unripe fall to the ground as mush. As the the leaves and stems were also mush and looked terrible I trimmed away most of that.

I did not get out there in time to pick the berries that froze on the stem.

I hope they will revive and perhaps sprout new plants next year. The berries seemed to be at all stages when we got the freeze followed by the wet stormy thaw. Collecting the ripe ones all year seems to be the best way to get more than a cupfull.

If after this year of lots of wet weather they come back strong in Spring, that might not bode well for New Mexican climate. You can but try--I witnessed that they are very difficult to __
start in wet conditions-I got only two plants from the many seed package seeds .

Good Luck!
Heather

I will post this to the plant ID pages. but here are some blossoming shrubs/ weeds/ random plants that might be my huckleberry coming back.
Heather Y.

To continue the experiment in a sort of controlled wa, I might thaw and plant the berries from last year.

There you are again -- reading my mind! I'm planting huckleberries this year, and I like tart, so I will follow along on your experiment!

Thanks, Turtles.

On the plant ID forum it has been decided they are brassica, not solanicum, so NOT Huckleberry.

I am trying to learn what works, what my soil and my yard "like", and or what plants "like" my yard. Yards.

The general idea is this: food plants in the back, decorative in the front,.
If I can find a plant that most people don't know is food
_(like rose hips or lavender (I soak the blossoms in honey for six months and the honey takes on a strong interesting flavor )
_ that is hardy and
also adds something to the aesthetic of the front yard and the "curb appeal" then it is
going in the front yard.
Front yard plants may not be _brats_.


I had wanted a plant that formed a shrub that wintered over, even with no leaves, but in autumn the huckleberry turned into dry sticks. So perhaps I will relegate them to the backyard in future,
on the annuals side.

Heather Y.

update: No sign of huckleberries at all. I am rapidly demoting them in my mind to "Too Much Trouble".

Any luck, Turtles?
Heather Y.

None yet. . . . .