Usually a rigorous walk is required for the picker, often on steep hillsides. Huckleberries are similar to the blueberry, smaller in size, a little more tart, and more purple in color. Weather, precipitation and a variety of other factors determine the outcome of each year's crop. An abundant harvest, or lack of it, is determined by unpredictable elements such as frosts and adequate amounts of rainfall and sunlight. Because they do not withstand transplanting or propagation, huckleberry bushes cannot be commercially grown, and therefore the berries must be handpicked one by one deep in the mountains.
Huckleberries are a favorite of bears and bees, and consequently are adventurous to pick.
Once you have tasted a Huckleberry, there is no comparison to any other berry. This wilderness factor and the scrumptious taste make Huckleberries a true delicacy. A Huckleberry is a common name for any of a genus of shrubs native to temperate North America. The plant has pale purple or pale red flower, borne in racemes, with ten stamens and a solitary pistil. The blue to black fruit contains ten bony, seed-like nutlets.