I agree completely. Great review. Don't think I've ever eaten a huckleberry. 
Are they too soft and delicate to be commercially marketed (similar to 
concord grapes)? Do they grow in hot or cold climates? Rhubarb, one of my 
favorites, grows very well up north, but not so well in warm climates of the 
south. Just wondering.
Tim Champlin ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Salwen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2018 8:28 AM
Subject: Re: BOOK REVIEW: _Huckleberry Cookbook_ by Alex & Stephanie Hester


> Thanks, Kevin. As usual, an entertaining & enlightening essay disguised as
> a book review.
>
> On Mon, May 7, 2018, 7:01 AM Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> The following book review was written for the Mark Twain Forum by Kevin 
>> Mac
>> Donnell.
>>
>> ~~~~~
>>
>> _The Huckleberry Cookbook_. By Alex & Stephanie Hester. TwoDot, 2017.
>> Second Edition. Pp. 158. Hardcover $19.95. ISBN 978-1-4930-2836-8. Ebook.
>> ISBN 978-1-4930-2837-5.
>>
>>
>> Many books reviewed on the Forum are available at discounted prices from
>> the TwainWeb Bookstore, and purchases from this site generate commissions
>> that benefit the Mark Twain Project. Please visit 
>> <http://www.twainweb.net
>> >=
>> .
>>
>>
>> Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by
>> Kevin Mac Donnell
>>
>>
>> Copyright (c) 2018 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or
>> redistributed in any medium without permission.
>>
>>
>>
>> Huck Finn's name signifies an insignificant (huckleberry) Irish child
>> (Finn). The stereotypical Irishman of the nineteenth century was a 
>> drunkard
>> and thief, and Irish immigrants frequently were met by signs in shop
>> windows reading "No Irish Need Apply." Although Irish women could get 
>> jobs
>> as housekeepers, Irish males were more often hired as day laborers and
>> rarely hired as butlers or allowed to work in a home; African-American
>> males were more often hired as house-servants than Irish-American males. 
>> If
>> African-Americans occupied the bottom rung of the social ladder during 
>> and
>> after slavery, Irish-Americans, who flooded into the country in the 1840s
>> to escape the cruelties of British rule and forced starvation (not 
>> famine),
>> were only one rung up the ladder--which bred resentment and racism. Huck
>> was the son of Pap Finn, the town drunk, an Irishman who need not apply,
>> nor should his son.
>>
>>
>> None of this is mentioned in this wonderful cookbook. In fact there is no
>> mention of Mark Twain at all even though every page glorifies
>> huckleberries. The introduction credits Henry David Thoreau as the first
>> American writer to seriously study the huckleberry, tracing them back to
>> 1615 when explorer Samuel de Champlain noted that Native Americans
>> harvested them. Next comes Captain William Clark (of Lewis & Clark fame)
>> who describes them in 1806. They were used for food, for dyes, and as
>> medicine. They were mixed with meats, and also mashed and dried and made
>> into cakes. Early settlers took their lead from Native Americans and
>> likewise made good use of them. During the Great Depression "huckleberry
>> camps" attracted eager pickers, especially in the northwest, and by 1937
>> the huckleberry industry had developed enough to require regulation.
>>
>>
>> Not all huckleberries are the same; there are three dozen species of
>> huckleberries in North America, and they have been mistaken for
>> blueberries, and called by other names: hurtleberries, bilberries,
>> dewberries, and whortleberries. Grizzly bears love them, and no wonder: 
>> the
>> aroma of huckleberries can permeate a plastic bag (NB: double bag them 
>> when
>> freezing them for storage). In some regions huckleberry bushes grow 
>> barely
>> two feet high, but in other climates they grow over five feet tall. They
>> tend to grow best on sloping ground, but thrive at both lower elevations
>> and at 6,500 feet. Most huckleberries are smaller than blueberries, and
>> unlike blueberries they tend to grow further apart on the bush rather 
>> than
>> in clumps like blueberries. Anyone who has tasted fresh huckleberries and
>> fresh blueberries knows that huckleberries will win any flavor contest
>> hands down. Huckleberries have a balanced (not too sweet, not too sour)
>> lingering taste and a complex texture that makes blueberries seem dull in
>> comparison. There is nothing insignificant about huckleberries.
>>
>>
>> Recipes for huckleberries are nearly endless, and this beautifully
>> illustrated book combines clear concise recipes with brilliant color
>> photographs that are literally mouth-watering. For those interested in 
>> the
>> lore of huckleberries, informational side-bars on huckleberry history and
>> legend are sprinkled among the recipes throughout the book. Traditional
>> recipes for jams, pies, and pancakes are included, but the reader is 
>> warned
>> not to read this book outside of huckleberry season (which is brief, from
>> late July to early September) unless there is a good stock of 
>> huckleberries
>> in the freezer. Otherwise, what will you do when you see huckleberry ice
>> cream, huckleberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting, huckleberry
>> seafood salad, grilled rib-eye with huckleberry caramelized onions, roast
>> duck with huckleberry hoisin, baby back ribs with huckleberry BBQ sauce,
>> pan-seared salmon with huckleberry sauce (something any bear would love),
>> baked huckleberry doughnut holes, vichyssoise with huckleberry swirl,
>> huckleberry crumb cake, huckleberry cobbler, huckleberry cr=C3=A8me 
>> brulee,
>> huckleberry frozen margaritas, or huckleberry banana smoothies? The 
>> variety
>> of desserts, pastries, sauces, drinks, glazes, jams, spreads, appetizers,
>> salads, breakfast items, breads, and main entrees is dazzling. Simply
>> looking at the superb photographs without some huckleberries at the ready
>> is torture.
>>
>>
>> Gift shops in Hannibal and Hartford and elsewhere stock huckleberry
>> products like jams, syrups, soaps, lotions, and drinks, and this cookbook
>> deserves a place of honor alongside such huckleberry products. Twain's 
>> last
>> home at Stormfield was surrounded by huckleberry fields and Twain was
>> reported to have loved huckleberry pie. Too bad he didn't have this
>> cookbook handy, but there's no reason any Twainian foodie should have to
>> suffer today. The wild huckleberry has yet to be domesticated and raised
>> commercially. One of the wonderful things about huckleberries is their
>> wildness, their boldness, and their resistance to being civilized like 
>> the
>> blueberry. But if that day ever comes, true Twainians will light out for
>> the territory (Trout Creek, Montana, the huckleberry capital of the 
>> world,
>> to be exact) to pick their own. If they're smart they'll bring along a 
>> copy
>> of this book.
>>