From the Boise Foothills to the Coeur d’Alene National Forest, Ponderosa Park in McCall to the Teton Valley – huckleberry foraging is a rite of summer here in the Gem State.
And then there's the delicacies: huckleberry jam, huckleberry pie, huckleberry ice cream.
But huckleberry hunters will be saddened this summer. A one-two punch has hit Idaho’s state fruit.
“If there's a low snowpack, as we had this winter, and then it's cold, the buds will get nipped by the cold,” said Idaho Fish and Game lead botanist Lynn Kinter.
“And then another kind of a double whammy is if there's a late frost. And especially in the mountains, if there's cold weather and no snow cover during that time, then either the buds get nipped or the flowers themselves are killed and can't be pollinated.”
According to Kinter, some reports saying the season might be delayed are incorrect.
“If anything, I'd expect it to be a little bit early, and a lot of the flowers were early this year, so I would have expected the huckleberries,” she said. “Perhaps the plants themselves flowered a little bit early, if anything.”
Huckleberry season usually runs from mid-June through late summer, sometimes as late as October, according to the Idaho Department of Commerce.
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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