Why Huckleberries Are a Gourmet Food
Do you like gourmet foods? Of course you do. But when you think of gourmet foods, what do you think of? French cuisine? Delicate pastries? Specially prepared steaks and fish? Exotic fruits and vegetables? How about berries? Do you think of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries as gourmet foods? Most people in the U.S. would not say so, but there is one type of berry that few people are aware of which most people would agree is an ingredient in some excellent gourmet foods. That is the huckleberry.
Huckleberries, you see, cannot be cultivated. Oh, there are various plants that are known as “garden huckleberries” but they are not the true huckleberries that can be found only in the northwestern wilderness areas of North America. It seems that wild huckleberries only flourish in high altitudes, probably only in volcanic soil. They grow on bushes that are favored by birds and bears, but people have learned to harvest the delicious, succulent huckleberries in ever-increasing numbers.
In fact, demand for huckleberries has grown so much that an entire “cottage” industry has grown up around them. People stake out huckleberry patches in the mountains, go up from July through September to harvest them, and then sell bucket loads of the highly nutritious, antioxidant-rich berries to wholesalers or huckleberry product companies. The huckleberry foods these small firms make are generally classified as gourmet foods and so don’t have to meet the strictest FDA guidelines.
Fortunately, huckleberry products have to be cooked during processing. The chances of their causing illness are not very high at all. And though you can purcahse raw huckleberries in frozen form, like most fruits and berries as long as their skins are intact they are considered to be generally safe. You should practice good food hygiene and wash any fresh fruits and vegetables before consuming them, naturally.
Huckleberries are used in more than 100 recipes and they have been featured on television shows and in books. But though huckleberries might be considered true “organic” foods, you’re not likely to find them typical organic stores. You are most likely to buy huckleberries through online huckleberry stores, where you don’t have to worry about anything more than shipping costs.
