Welcome to Mountain Edibles

I have been wandering the mountains of Utah as an amateur botanist for many years, and I am now trying to share some of what I have learned with those around me. I am a user of many edible and medicinal plants, and I believe the edible plants are the least known area of my expertise. This blog is a way to increase the popular knowledge of edible plants.

I also do plant walks to teach about edible and medicinal plants in person. If you are in the Northern Utah area, and are interested in arranging such a presentation, you can contact me using the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Thank you for coming.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Vaccinium membranaceum

Vaccinium membranaceum
Vaccinium membranaceum
The Huckleberry is one of the best and easiest to gather berries in the mountains. At least if it grows in your area. It doesn't generally grow in my area, but on a recent trip to Montana, I was able to find and enjoy handfuls of huckleberries for lunch on one of my hikes.

Lolo National Forest has a good foraging policy, for example, "a permit is not required for recreational huckleberry picking up to 10 gallons per season."

The taste of huckleberries does not need much explanation. They are much like blueberries, but somewhat tarter. The great thing is that they grow in large quantities in fields of bushes, so one can easily pick a lot without much effort. Some people use a berry rake to make it even faster, but compared to searching for strawberries, even hand-picking huckleberries seems effortless. You can easily pick a handful in a minute, and a pie-full in a short time.
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