I took the dog for a run today, and as we walked back home under a sky which sprinkled rain lightly down on us, I just left thoughts behind and looked around. Little tiny droplets of red scattered the bright green bushes, and birds chirped and chimed as they fluttered unseen behind a wall of green leaves and the trunks of trees. I noticed this wallpaper of green dotted with red as I passed through a tunnel made up of huckleberry bushes, and finally reached my hand to pull one berry, juicy and swollen, which nearly fell from the branch as I knocked the surrounding leaves.
Holding the berry between my thumb and index finger, I instantly thought of all those times when my sister and I would fill buckets, bowls, and later our pockets, with these tart little berries, ecstatic by our achievement when they were brought home and compiled into one huge bin. We would sit there and sift through the bugs, leaves, and stems that were also brought in with them, and sneaking many to eat throughout the process. Eventually, we would make pies using the berries, a tradition that lasted through to when my sister left for university and no longer came home during the berry picking season. Instead, I would bake up a pie using a mix of huckleberries and salmon berries, never quite
reaching to the tops of the trees without her, nor collecting nearly as much without the help of my
picking partner, and sister.
The berry made it's way to my mouth, and with one bite down, it popped, and sweet juices escaped across my taste buds. Some say the berries are too sour to their liking, but I think they taste just like summer should: fresh and at the same time, delicious enough that after one, your hand reaches back up to the cascading branch, to find the largest berry just holding on to it's little green stem.
Without my sister to help make the pies, I began learning to bake without as much help, and only asking mum for the measurements of butter and flour to use for the pastry, or what temperature the oven should be heated to.
And I remember the first complement I received about my baking, from someone outside of my family that is, from a friend of mine during a big dinner potluck at the island's clubhouse. As family and friends gathered, each family brought something to share that we had made, and mine was a huckleberry pie. It had a pastry base, filled with salmon and huckleberries, and finished with a cobbler topping. Mum and dad came with me, but my sister had been away that evening as well. When dinner was over, and dessert plates had been handed round to everyone to choose which of the many cakes and pies to try, many made from summer's seasonal fruits, my friend came up to me.
"I don't usually like pie, but yours was delicious! And I ate the whole piece!"
I was absolutely thrilled. One of the first things I had cooked myself, and then served to people who were entitled to their own opinions of taste, and they had enjoyed it.
Well you can bet I continued cooking from then on.
After stopping to nibble a few huckleberries from the trees, I remembered my dad's helpful resourcefulness when we came across too many delicious salmon berries to hold in our hands during a walk one day last year, and pulled a clean doggy bag from my pocket. It quickly filled as my hand darted from berry to bag and back to the branch again to pull the largest and juiciest looking berries. I wasn't sure what would be made from so many berries at the time, but kept collecting them in a fever. The red and green wallpaper was losing it's red dots, becoming greener and greener as the bag in my hand became heavier and heavier with berries for cooking later.
So we sat with a big pot of tea, with the smell of freshly baked loaf wafting from the oven, and the sweet smell of the berries that dotted the bread as they had the trees earlier today. As it was pulled from the oven, my friend and I both sat in anticipation for it to cool, the sugary smell of the huckleberries almost too delicious to keep us waiting. It's summer after all, and berries on Bowen are a tradition for us to pick, and then enjoy nearly as quickly as they were brought home.
A seasonal bread for when the bushes are ripe with the little red fruits, sometimes tart, and sometimes delectably sweet. Without much need for added sugar with berries, this is a perfect summer loaf. Light enough to be served for tea, but all the right flavours for when summer clouds bring about a little bit of rain, and something warm out the oven is just the right pick up for an afternoon.
With a little bit of coconut cream (scooped from the top layer of a can of coconut milk), its a perfect balance of moisture, density, and flavour. Biting into this loaf is like re-awakening your senses to summer flavours: berries, honey, cinnamon, and apples.
{Makes one loaf}
{Ingredients:}
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup grape seed oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup fresh or frozen huckleberries
{Directions:}
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a bread pan with grape seed oil.
In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients: coconut, sorghum, rice, and potato flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat together eggs before whisking in honey, oil and apple sauce.
Add wet ingredients into dry, and mix well. Slowly stir in huckleberries, being careful not to squish them with the spoon.
Pour batter into the prepared bread pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon.
Bake 35 - 40 minutes, or until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool about 15 minutes before serving with a spoonful of coconut cream.
