Berry season again

A week ago, my sister and I went out with some of the kids to a local huckleberry spot and picked huckleberries. They're apparently a relative of blueberries, and the name "huckleberry" is a corruption of "whortleberry." Go figure.

What they are is tiny. Like their blueberry cousins, they grow on nice, thornless bushes, in little clusters that are relatively easy to pick. And until you eat them, that's the last easy thing. First you have to pick out the leaves that you inadvertently picked, and then you have to sort through the berries, one at a time, and pick off the little stems.

Once you've done that, and have a cup or so of the wee gems, you can make pancakes or muffins or just eat them out of hand. I don't have enough for jam, and even if I did, it would feel like solid gold, given the work involved. I think I'll freeze them and sprinkle them into baked goods.

I wish I were planning to watch election returns on television tonight; picking over berries would be a perfect, sort of mindless accompaniment.