Huckleberries and A Cake
Huckleberries came early in the mountains of Idaho. I’m told by the mountain berry enthusiasts that they come in the late summer, August and into September. I had been coming to this family cabin for years now and never had I known there to be huckleberry bushes surrounding the property. That’s probably because huckleberries grow slowly taking 15 years to become the small low growing shrub and then 3-5 years to bear fruit. I may have did some digging and found this resource from the University of Idaho. If you’re into plants or are a nerd about how things work, this could be a fun read for you. So, I felt very lucky that huckleberries ripened by the end of June so I could partake of this region’s favorite berry. And a favorite berry it is. I went into town and there were all sorts of huckleberry concoctions like jam, syrup, and even popcorn. But my favorite is Tillamook’s Mountain Huckleberry ice cream which I believe isn’t available anywhere outside of the North West and Mountain West regions. I’ve looked. There ain’t no Tillamook Huckleberry ice cream in Illinois. (And I just again as I was getting ready to publish this and yeah, no Huckleberry ice cream here.) I may have spent some time locating which of my favorite food brands are located at which grocery store chains.
Anyway, the end of our summer in Idaho was pretty much just picking huckleberries. I woke up at six in the morning to pick berries. I wanted it to be a tranquil experience, but I may have been a bit paranoid about walking into spider webs and going for a berry at the same time a bee was going for it. I really do like the outdoors, but I just. . . bugs and how they come out of nowhere, you know?
After a couple of days picking huckleberries (it took some time to fill a jar), I swear I was seeing blue spots everywhere. I even had dreams that there were so many berries, but I wasn’t picking fast enough. I think my subconscious turns everything into a competition. After getting four pints of berries picked, I had to decide what I was going to do with them. Baby girl could've eaten them by the jar full, but a diet of just huckleberries don’t make for fun diapers to change. Not that changing diapers is ever any fun. I could’ve made jam, but I had my fill for making jam back in my trying to fit in with Mormons in 2014. Then comes this beautiful recipe into my inbox from the New York Times, a Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake by Yossy Arah. I love strawberries in the summer, but unfortunately the strawberries in Cascade were not at their best or they were often sold out. I think they had to travel quite a ways to get to this rural town. I did have huckleberries though and lots of it. So I used Arah’s recipe and in place of strawberries, used up most of the berries I had spent days picking. Talk about living life like a granola. I picked berries and then I made a cake from scratch with those berries. Ooof. It was a lot of work. Was it worth it? Well, if you could get huckleberries to grow commercially (which you can’t) it’d be nice to save the time and buy a pint. I’m sure I wouldn’t taste the difference. I did enjoy the experience of picking berries with my family and then making the cake that everyone was looking forward to. It was a hit and we finished up that huckleberry cake the last week of our isolated cabin staycation. It was a lovely way to end a summer of hard work and to celebrate the new stage of our lives.
What are your favorite summer fruit cakes? You may not be able to hand pick any fruits, but there’s nothing like getting a yummy haul from your farmer’s market. My town’s farmer’s market ends in October. I’ll for sure be enjoying summer fruit cakes until the peaches and strawberries stop coming. I’ll definitely have to try this bundt cake as intended, with strawberries.
You can get the Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake by Yossy Arah with a New York Times subscription.
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