TROUT CREEK — Whether you like them freshly picked off the bush or in foods like cheesecake and pancakes, huckleberries are a delicacy in the Treasure State.
So much so that Montanans keep secret where they have found the fruit in the wild.
Wanting to learn more about this coveted berry, MTN headed to Trout Creek, the huckleberry capital of Montana, and caught up with a family of pickers.
"One summer I picked 257 gallons, so it tells you there's a lot of berries out there," Montana huckleberry picker, Ken, told me.
Watch: It's time to go huckleberry picking!
The 66-year-old has been picking the fruit for half a century. On this day, he and his grandson, 11-year-old Finn — and yes, the two have been called "Huckleberry Finn and Ken"— along with another grandson, 18-year-old Ricky, as well as the chairperson of Trout Creek's Huckleberry Festival, Elizabeth Haagensen, were our guides for all things huckleberry.
First up... finding the prized patch.
"We have a lot of huckleberries; pretty much you go up into the mountains, and you can find huckleberries," Elizabeth explained.
However, that abundance doesn't mean you reveal your treasure trove.
We travelled deep into and high up in the nearby Cabinet Mountains Wilderness to a place that Elizabeth had scoped out before. They wanted us to refer to it only as an undisclosed location.
"I show my grandkids in my spots, but I don't show too many people," said Ken.
That protective nature has been passed down.
"I'd be like, 'No, I'm not telling you; I got my own patch,'" shared Finn, explaining what he would tell someone who wanted to know where he picked huckleberries. And if that person pressed him and wanted a hint, Finn said his response would simply be, "Go find your own huckleberries."
"As soon as a bunch of people find out the spot, you go up there, then they're all gone," explained Ricky. "So you got to be protective about it, so it stays secret, and you can have your patch every year."
Ken estimates the elevation of the spot they take me to in the wilderness is around 5,000 feet; he says huckleberries grow well in the 3,500 to 5,500 feet range.
"Just the low brush; check the low brush. You'll get so you can pick out the huckleberry brush, and just look for that," Ken shared. "And as you drive down the road, if you see a nice bush with berries, you can guarantee up the hill, farther, you'll find them better."
Once you find them, he says you can either handpick or use a picker.
Ken prefers to use what's called a Miller Picker, which is basically a large spring-steel comb that you work through the plant. The leaves stay intact, and the berries end up in the can.
"When you lift them up, they'll just be hanging, and you just whoosh, and you can feel your picker get heavier as you go," he elaborated.
He showed us how to use the picker.
"You kind of gently pull it through?" I asked, combing a huckleberry bush. "Yeah," he replied.
But regardless of the technique, the big draw for picking and protecting huckleberries is the taste.
"They're really good; I like them a lot more than blueberries. They're a lot sweeter and have more flavor," Ricky told me.
"More flavor and juicier," Ken said. "I like the huckleberry cheesecake."
"Huckleberry cobbler or huckleberry cake and huckleberry pancakes... yeah," Finn shared, describing his favorite huckleberry foods.
