{"id":4705,"date":"2021-09-23T10:23:16","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T02:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/?p=4705"},"modified":"2021-09-23T10:23:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T02:23:16","slug":"the-montana-diaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/p\/4705.html","title":{"rendered":"The Montana Diaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

September, 2021<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n

The last time we met we journeyed up the Maine Coast on a Lobster Roll food and wine extravaganza through \u201cThe Lobster Diaries<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m back with tales from the wild west via \u201cThe Montana Diaries\u201d and yes\u2026. MOM is back too.\u00a0 This time we are joined by my sister, Sara.\u00a0 Travel with us as we tour the Big Sky State through food, wine, cocktails, adventure, old stories, new memories and all things western.<\/p>\n

Before the adventure begins, let me provide a little background.\u00a0 I grew up in New York City.\u00a0 My Mom grew up in Montana.\u00a0 Practically every summer of my childhood, we plane-ed, train-ed and automobile-ed out west to visit family and escape the heat & humidity. \u00a0As a kid, I really resented it.\u00a0 While my friends were headed off to glamourous sounding sleepaway camps in upstate NY, we headed west.\u00a0 Back then it wasn\u2019t cool or romantic.\u00a0 It just seemed weird.\u00a0 As an adult, I cherish those memories and the exposure I had to open land, big skies, Native Americans, wildlife, fishing and cooking.<\/p>\n

EPISODE 1 \u2013 \u201cHUCKLEBERRY HOUNDS\u201d<\/p>\n

Summers in Montana are berry season\u2026. Cherries, Chokecherries, Huckleberries, Black Caps.\u00a0 Cherries from the Flathead Lake area are famous.\u00a0 My grandparents had an Airstream Trailer in Big Fork, MT right on the lake.\u00a0 We spent a few weeks there fishing, picking cherries and baking cherry pies.\u00a0 When it was time to close up the trailer and head south to Billings, we\u2019d pick as many cherries as possible, load up the car and race down state to jam, can and preserve.\u00a0 At some point before or after cherry\u2013mania, we\u2019d scavenge along creek beds and dusty roads for chokecherries and huckleberries.\u00a0 Today we call it \u201cforaging\u201d and it\u2019s cool.\u00a0 Back then, I called it torture and it sucked.<\/p>\n

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It was however, worth it.\u00a0 The jams, jellies and preserves made by my Grandma were extraordinary.\u00a0 Certainly, these were some of the first exotic flavors I experienced.<\/p>\n

Huckleberries grow wild in the northwest US and western Canada and cannot be cultivated.\u00a0 They look like blueberries but taste a lot more tart.\u00a0 As a berry, they are super versatile used in jams, jellies, pies, syrups, pancakes, pastries and whatever else you can think of.<\/p>\n

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The three of us converged upon Billings ready for adventure.\u00a0 We began the two weeks odyssey with several goals in mind.\u00a0 One was trying to consume as many huckleberry iterations as possible, so why wait????<\/p>\n

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And why not start with a huckleberry cocktail at Hooligan\u2019s Sports Bar <\/strong>(109 N Broadway, Billings, MT) After all, it was a gorgeous late summer evening and there was outdoor seating.\u00a0 We were thirsty and we needed extra vitamin fortification as we settled into our adventure.\u00a0 Huckleberries are loaded with antioxidants, iron and Vitamin C.\u00a0 Clearly, we were starting our trip with our HEALTH in mind.\u00a0 Sara had a huckleberry margarita.\u00a0 Mom had a huckleberry jalapeno margarita and I tried the Doc Holiday.\u00a0 One healthy delicious drink led to a snack and maybe another round of drinks (more vitamin fortification) and the next thing you knew, the sun set and the band arrived\u2026<\/p>\n

I could say we planned to arrive in Billings for the Burn the Point outdoor concert, but I\u2019d be lying.\u00a0 Regardless, there were cowboys on stage jamming out some great music so we stayed.<\/p>\n

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After a little bit of boot scootin\u2019, we called it a night.<\/p>\n

The next day we hit the Billings Farmers Market in search of huckleberry jams and jellies.\u00a0 The market did not disappoint.\u00a0 First of all, there was more live music\u2026.<\/p>\n

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Then I met some fellow Master Gardeners from Yellowstone County\u2026.<\/p>\n

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We compared notes on growing zones, growing seasons, native plants and the Montana v Florida Master Gardener program.\u00a0 They informed me that this was really the last great weekend for the market where you could really find locally farmed produce.\u00a0 We took full advantage.<\/p>\n

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And then we hit pay dirt\u2026.!<\/p>\n

Becky\u2019s Berries<\/strong> (https:\/\/beckysberries.com<\/a>) was started in 2006 by Becky and Tim Stahl in their kitchen in Absarokee, MT.\u00a0 Their jams and jellies are reflective of the wild fruits and berries available in Montana.\u00a0 I grabbed a huckleberry jam, a chokecherry jelly and a chuckleberry jam.\u00a0 Chuckleberry is my favorite combining huckleberry, raspberry and chokecherry in a sweet-tart, chunky flavor bomb.<\/p>\n

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Our next huckleberry immersion happened in Butte, MT.\u00a0 Butte is really old-timey Montana.\u00a0 It was once the wealthiest and largest city in the state built on steep hills and solely dependent upon copper and mineral mining.\u00a0 Legend and lore tells stories of great wealth and loss, wild west times, speakeasy\u2019s and ladies of the evening.<\/p>\n

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While the mines closed permanently in the early 1980\u2019s, Butte still has a rough and ready feel.\u00a0 After some historic tours and a bit of antique shopping, we decided to join the legends and hit the speakeasy, FiftyOne Below<\/strong> (51 W Park Street, Butte, MT)<\/p>\n

We descended underground to a secret passageway, picked up an old telephone, dialed the secret code which opened up a new pathway and weaved our way to the bar where Don, our mixologist invited us in.<\/p>\n

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Our favorite huckleberry concoction was the huckleberry cream-tini\u2026. Sweet, chilled and served UP, it completed a super fun evening.<\/p>\n

On the way to Missoula, we spotted a purple painted bison on the side of the road in front of The Sweets Barn<\/strong> (11380 US Highway 93S, Lolo, MT) screaming STOP FOR CHOCOLATE at us.<\/p>\n

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So we did\u2026. The Sweets Barn makes all their own chocolate confections.\u00a0 We tried and purchased many\u2026 haystacks, MT whiskey truffles, peanut butter cups and our favorite\u2026. A huckleberry praline with cashew claws.\u00a0 WOWSERS\u2026. Rich dark chocolate surrounded a thin layer of caramel and a chewy huckleberry sweet\/tart jelly in the center.\u00a0 It was almost too much chocolatey goodness for one sitting.\u00a0 Mom and I ate half of ours and saved the rest for later but Sara scarfed the whole thing\u2026..<\/p>\n

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After a few nights in Missoula, we were finally headed north towards Flathead Lake, Big Fork, Kalispell and Whitefish.\u00a0 Here we met with family, reminisced, had the wildest night of our western adventure and enjoyed our favorite huckleberry experiences of the trip\u2026 in Episode 2 of The Montana Diaries:\u00a0 Huckleberry Hounds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time Laura is going to Big Sky State – Montana, for a food, wine and cocktails adventure.
\nby Laura Depasquale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":4728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restaurant-and-wine","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4735,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions\/4735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}