Or are they blueberries? A new law signed by the governor defines the Montana huckleberry, a move some say will cause waves in the state's purple market.
“It's going to make a difference in how much jam you see out there,” said Marla Hedman, owner of the Larchwood Farms in Trout Creek.
The change won't be immediate, she said, but she is excited all the same to see a possible end to a problem she said started 15 years ago.
That's when some producers, seeing the popularity of huckleberries, began supplementing the berry that is unique to the Northwest with more common berries, like blueberries, she said.
Because Montana huckleberries cannot be cultivated, they must be collected in the wild, making them more expensive than the cultivated alternatives.
It was a development Hedman said has strained her budget.
“When you're the ethical one, and they are the ones cheating, and you are the one going broke, that's kind of scary,” she said.
But Hedman is one producer in an industry with more than a dozen statewide, and many other producers are vehement about the honesty of their labels, as well as a bit confounded by the new law.
Eva Gates Homemade Preserves is one of the oldest huckleberry preserve makers in the state, now in its 57th year. Gretchen Gates said she can't speak for any other companies, but attests that her company only uses huckleberries for its huckleberry preserves and syrups.
“I have not seen it. - My company doesn't use them,” Gates said about the blueberries.
Nor does Viki's Montana Mountain Classics, owner Viki Hoveland said.
She, too, said she doesn't know what other people are doing, but she doesn't think she would be in business if she were using blueberries.
“If you do a taste test side by side, you can tell which one is a blueberry and which one is a huckleberry,” she said. “I wouldn't be in business very long if I were misrepresenting my product.”
Both Hoveland and Gates said they like that the bill defined what a Montana huckleberry is.
“Huckleberry” is a common name that has been given to all sorts of berries across North America, as a simple Google search will show. But Hedman, Gates and many others said there is no matching the taste that has made the wild Montana huckleberry famous.
The bill, Senate Bill 479, defines the Montana huckleberry as one of two species of berries, and requires they be picked in the state. If any other berries are used, they must be listed on the jar or bottle.
To ensure a berry has been picked in the state, the bill also makes producers report where their berries were picked. Few producers pick the berries themselves, so they will have to demand pickers cough up where they got their cache, and that's where the bill looses some popularity.
“I don't think it's going to affect our output, or the price of huckleberries this year, or labor,” said Edward Springman, owner of Huckleberry Haven in Kalispell. “I think it's just maybe some additional paperwork.”
Jim Elliott, D-Trout Creek, the sponsor of the bill, has said the information shared will be kept confidential and will only require broad descriptions, not GPS coordinates.
Elliott was asked by Hedman to put up the legislation, and echoed Hedman's sentiments when he was pushing it through the Legislature. The bill states that huckleberry products are at risk of losing their value because of the use of blueberries.
“What we were worried about were the semi-loads other businesses were bringing in,” Hedman said. “Neither one of the biggest companies can do the volume they are doing. It's impossible.”
Springman's Huckleberry Haven is “not the biggest, but certainly not the smallest,” he said.
This is not the first time he has heard suggestions that his company and others dilute their products.
“I have never received huckleberries in a box from a semi-truck,” he said.
“We work very, very, very hard and have a lot of contacts, drive a lot miles, spend a lot of money,” he said. “And maybe some folks don't appreciate how hard we do work.”
The Huckleberry People, a large producer in Missoula, did not return phone calls from the Missoulian.
The unique, and some say superior, taste of the Montana huckleberry is undeniable, many said.
Nellie Stark, a retired University of Montana ecologist and co-author of “The Ecology and Culture of the Montana Huckleberry,” said if blueberries are being called huckleberries, the buyer is losing out.
“I hope they pass a bill like that,” he said. “If people buy blueberries and think they are getting huckleberries, they aren't getting their money's worth.”
Hedman agreed.
“It's a law on truth in labeling,” Hedman said. “And if it says wild Montana huckleberries, that's what should be in the jar, not Canada blueberries.”
Daniel Person is a journalism student at the University of Montana and a newsroom intern. He can be reached at 523-5260 or Daniel.Person@missoulian.com
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