
Even though they only grow in the primitive mountain landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, at cooler and wetter elevations than most of the region's domestic agricultural crops, huckleberries, too, aren't unscathed by this year's unprecedented heat and drought conditions.
Companies in the Inland Northwest that rely on wild huckleberries' harvest to make popular products like beverage mixes, jams and more have been anxiously watching this year's picking season unfold as high temperatures have lingered in the upper 90s for weeks, and wildfires rage across some areas.
Shaver Farms in Hayden, which uses huckleberries to make several products from jelly to barbecue sauce for its Wildbeary brand, is not expecting to get many — if any at all — berries this year from its independent pickers. Huckleberries the company usually buys from a major food service supplier are also in very limited supply.
"We were informed by our berry broker that the berries just aren't there," says Shaver Farmers co-owner Charlene Shaver. "So what we're having to do is just use what we have. The last two years have been sparse."
Last year, Shaver Farms supplied Dry Fly Distilling with huckleberry juice used in its new huckleberry vodka, as well as its huckleberry lemonade canned cocktails, but won't have enough to do so this year. Shaver says the distillery's owners told her, however, that they're optimistic they'll have enough juice left from last year to get by until next year's berry season.
But even if this winter and next spring are wetter and cooler, helping wild huckleberry bushes recover and produce a more normal crop, both in quantity and berry size, the shortage could impact companies at all stages of commercial production for years to come, Shaver worries.
"A lot of these manufacturers are going to run into problems next year due to the lack of berries now," she says. "They won't have a surplus for next year. We are used to starting to fill orders in early spring, and well, we might not have any berries at all next year. If this is the new norm, it's going to be tough on huckleberries."
Shaver Farms is fortunately positioned to make it through this year's "huckleberry drought," however, because the Wildbeary brand doesn't solely feature the foraged berry. Its fruit spreads also include flavors like cherry pie, peach cobbler, raspberry mango, strawberry rhubarb crisp and more. The company also co-produces and co-packages various products, like barbecue sauce, for other small, local food companies in its commercial kitchen.
"We started to see [the huckleberry problems] coming two to three years ago," says co-owner Thomas Shaver, Charlene's son. "That's why we do other fruit spreads. You have to be flexible in this business."
When you go out and order a huckleberry mojito at Tomato Street, or a huckleberry milkshake at Silverwood Theme Park, you're enjoying a beverage made with Wild Huckleberry Magic.
The Coeur d'Alene-based company makes and sells a proprietary drink mix concentrate. While its concentrate can be enjoyed as a syrup or sauce over pancakes, desserts and more, it's also sold to dozens of local restaurants and used in all manner of delightful huckleberry dishes.
Wild Huckleberry Magic was started by a bartender at Elkins Resort up on Priest Lake in the early 1990s, says current co-owner Mark Miller, who runs the company with business partners Bob and Melissa Lamorandier.
"He was tired of making hundreds of huckleberry daiquiris a night, so he created a recipe and was able to basically scale up in bulk and started to make it and sell it around town," Miller says.
Miller says Wild Huckleberry Magic buys 1,200 to 1,300 gallons of locally foraged huckleberries each year to fill orders for all of its clients. Once cooked down, sweetened and pasteurized, that volume of berries equates to about 2,500 gallons of Wild Huckleberry Magic concentrate.
"It can be used to make anything huckleberry, whether drinks, barbecue sauce, ice cream, pancakes, vinaigrette — it basically makes anything and everything," Miller says.
Unfortunately for huckleberry lovers cooking or bartending at home, the concentrate isn't sold as a consumer product. But Miller ticks off a list of places where, if you order a huckleberry item on the menu, it'll almost certainly contain the magical elixir.
In Spokane it's used at the Davenport Hotel Collection restaurants, Clinkerdagger, Mustard Seed and Tomato Street. In North Idaho, you'll find it at Belle's Brunch House, The Porch Public House, Tito's Italian Grill, Cricket's Oyster Bar & Grill, The Coeur d'Alene Resort and Silverwood. In total, Miller says the company sells to about 50 restaurants and bars across the region.
The quantity each of these venues buys from Wild Huckleberry Magic varies, but Miller says as an example that Silverwood goes through 20 to 25 gallons of the concentrate a week during summer's peak. One gallon wholesale sells for $40.
So far, Miller says he and his partners aren't overly concerned about the weather's impact on this year's berry harvest. He says the pickers who the company buys the bulk of its inventory from are finding a decent crop in areas of Northeastern Washington. But he does expect the picking season won't last as long as usual at higher elevations.
Most "decent years," the company buys berries between mid-July and early October, Miller says. "This year, unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen," he adds. "We're worried about the late-season bushes not producing because of the heat."
If the region's huckleberry crop from this year to next doesn't catch up, consumers and commercial producers can expect prices to skyrocket for both raw berries and anything containing them.
And if those prices get too high, companies like Shaver Farms and the businesses they supply could gradually stop offering huckleberry goods.
"I'm hearing rumors of what retail is going to be," says Thomas Shaver. "At the farmers market it's $15 to $16 a pound, but it could be as much as $75 to $80 a gallon. If things stay this way, it's going to go up even more." ♦