Help please...people from the US.

I read a post on Doc's site about homemade "Huckleberry Pie" and haven't a clue what it is or looks like. So to those of you in the U.S, can you please, please tell me what a "huckleberry" is. (pictures/recipes anything). I'm sure Beth W or maybe even Bakerina have some answers for me.

Comments

[Tvindy]

Well, here's a picture of huckleberries in a bowl. I don't know much about them, but it seems that they only grow wild. In other words, you have to pick them yourself at the right time of the year and can't get them at the supermarket. I'm not sure I've ever had huckleberries, but I've definitely read Huckleberry Finn.

[Pica]

Jenny: They're closely related to blueberries. There are lots of other berries I only even HEARD about when I was in Alaska--the marionberry, for instance--which I think are also closely related.

These berries are the summer staple of brown bears in the north when they don't live near salmon spawning rivers (and thus are much smaller than their more protein-endowed cousins).

[Marie]

Around the Blue Ridge, we call wild blueberries Huckleberries.

[Jenny]

I had imagined they would look like greenish blackberries for some reason. I love berries of all types (esp blueberries) so I would imagine they are absolutely delicious. I'm looking forward to sampling some good Somerset strawberries and rasberries very soon.

[beth]

In New England, huckleberries are synonymous with blueberries. I'd be glad to send you a recipe for blueberry pie - it's one of our favorites - but what fruit would you use there? Can you get blueberries? One year when an ex-pat. friend living in Germany was visiting in July, he asked specially for blueberries becasue that was one fruit they could never get. Fresh ones are absolutely delicious.

[Chris Gibson]

I have heard of Huckleberry Finn and even seen a couple of versions of the movie. I have eaten at Huck Finn's donut palace, but I have never eaten nor have I seen huckleberry pie. The pie I'm interested in is shoe fly pie. It has neither shoes, nor flies, but I am told is very sweet.

[Beth W.]

We just got back to Longleaf here in the Panhandle of Florida -- and there are LOTS of huckleberry bushes here! They are a smaller, almost black version of blueberries -- very sweet. Deer, birds, grandchildren and other critters love them. I try to collect enough in a zip-lock bag to use as a topping for waffles or in a fruit salad. But to tell the truth, mostly I pick and eat, pick and eat. Here's a link with more info: http://www.biologicalresearch.com/plants/plant_www.php?uniq=gaylu_dum
Now that we're back, I'll try to take a picture for you!