It’s Huckleberry Time!
Last week I went on a hike that turned into a huckleberry picking outing. If you have never eaten huckleberries, you have missed something no one should miss. Think about everything you like about fresh wild blueberries and multiply by 10. Now you have huckleberries! Of course many went into my mouth instead of the containers, but I still came home with about 12 cups of berries. 
I made huckleberry bran muffins, (recipe follows), and froze the rest. As with freezing any berry, the trick is to wash them and then spread them in a single layer on cookie sheets. Then put the cookie sheets into the freezer for several hours. Once the berries are frozen, bag them up to store in the freezer.
I would call this recipe organic, but because of the sugar, it is not 100%. If you know how to adjust to use honey instead of sugar, and you have a source for organic buttermilk, you could make these truly organic. You can substitute blueberries if need be. The recipe is also great if you use raisins instead of berries. With raisins, use 1/4 cup less bran. 
Huckleberry Bran Muffins:
3-1/4 cups organic wheat bran
1 cup boiling water
2-1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 cup organic butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup organic molasses
4 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1-3/4 cups Huckleberries
~ Makes 24 large muffins ~
Combine 1 cup of the bran with the boiling waer and let sit until ready to use.
Combine the rest of the bran with the dry ingredients.
In another (large) bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then mix in the eggs and molasses.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk and the soaked bran.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter / molasses bowl and mix. Then add 1/3 of the buttermilk and mix. Continue alternately adding and mixing the butter / molasses and the butter milk until all ingredients are combined. Mix gently after each addition.
Gently mix in the huckleberries.
Let stand in the covered bowl in the refrigerater for at least 1/2 a day. You can keep the batter refrigerated for a couple of weeks if you don’t want to cook all the muffins at once. I cook them all and freeze some of the muffins.
Fill the muffin tins 3/4 at most and bake in a 400 degree oven for 17 to 30 minutes. Small muffins will take less time. The largest size sometimes takes the full 30 minutes for me. Once they look done, I test with a toothpick and with a gentle thump on the top of a muffin. You don’t want to take them out if they are still moist or real soft to the thump. Because of the buttermilk, these muffins are not as tasty unless fully cooked. Enjoy!
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