Huckleberries appear in mountainous regions from late July into August, bringing with them treasure hunters hoping to fill their buckets to overflowing with these small yet flavorful purple berries. Unfortunately, as quickly as they appear, these little gems will be gone, but freezing them makes it possible to enjoy them year-round. The steps for freezing huckleberries are easy and with very little prep or equipment required, anyone can do it.
Prepare your huckleberries for freezing by spreading a couple handfuls of huckleberries at a time onto a clean, older kitchen towel and removing leaves, stems and immature or defective berries. Place the clean berries into a bowl and repeat with the remaining berries until they are all clean. Do not wash whole huckleberries before freezing or they will come out watery once thawed.
Spread the clean berries onto a cookie sheet that has a 1-inch rim so the berries do not slide off. If does not matter if the berries overlap one another slightly, although keeping them in a single layer works best. If necessary, use more than one cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet(s) in the freezer so it sits flat. Leave for approximately two hours or until frozen solid.
Remove the cookie sheet(s) from the freezer and place the frozen huckleberries into a resealable, gallon-size freezer bag; fill to the top and seal. You can also use plastic freezer containers with lids to hold the berries. Once your containers are filled and sealed, place back into the freezer to store.
Use frozen huckleberries as you would fresh, by adding frozen berries right into pancake, waffle or muffin batters or blending a handful of frozen berries with one cup of milk or juice and a banana to make a smoothie. Huckleberry cobbler and crisps can also be made using frozen berries without thawing first.
Place your fresh huckleberries in a strainer and rinse gently with fresh water after you have picked out leaves, stems and defective berries. Since you will be crushing your berries before freezing, rinse well to remove any dirt or debris that can get mixed in.
Add a handful of rinsed huckleberries to a blender or food processor and puree until blended. Or you can simply push the berries through a hand sieve. Place your pureed berries into a mixing bowl.
Mix into the pureed berries approximately 1 cup of sugar for every quart or four cups of berries; adjust the amount of sugar accordingly. Stir the sugar into the berries until completely dissolved.
Fill quart size resealable plastic freezer bags or plastic freezer containers with lids with the puree mixture; leave about a 1 -inch head space in the container to allow for the mixture to expand when frozen. Seal well and freeze.