Ethnobotanic: Traditionally, Cascade bilberry fruits were eaten raw and fresh, or were cooked, mashed, and dried in the sun in cakes. Columbia Plateau Indians of Washington dried surplus berries slowly over a fire kept smoldering in a rotten log (Filloon 1952). This method of drying the berries preserves the bulk of the Vitamin C content in the fruits (Norton et al. 1984:223). The dried berries are sometimes mixed with pounded salmon and a good portion of salmon oil, making a delicious dish.
After the huckleberry feast, the Sahaptin people of the Columbia plateau traveled to the productive berry fields higher in the mountains for a series of day, overnight, or weekend trips. The knowledge of the location of the berries is part of an Indian family's inheritance (Hunn 1990). Special berry picking baskets include "Klikitat baskets" of cedar root decorated with bear grass and bitter cherry bark. Each family would harvest and store approximately four or five pecks (ca. four to five gallons) of dried berries for winter use (Perkins n.d. (1838-43), Book 1:10). Hunn (1990) estimates that there were 28-42 huckleberry harvest days in a year. This resulted in a total annual harvest of 63.9-80.2 kg/woman/year from the Tenino-Wishram area, and 90 kg/woman/year from the Umatilla area. The net result was a huckleberry harvest yield of 31 kcal/person/day in the Tenino-Wishram area and 42 kcal/person/day for the Umatilla area (Hunn 1981: 130-131). Vaccinium species contain 622 Kcal per 100 gm huckleberries, with 15.3 gm carbohydrate, 0.5 gm fat, 0.7 gm protein and 83.2 gm water (Hunn 1981:130-131).
In the fall, after the harvest, it was common for the Sahaptin to burn these areas to create favorable habitat (Henry Lewis 1973, 1977). Fire creates sunny openings in the forest and edges that foster the rapid spread of nutritious herbs and shrubs that favors the huckleberries (Minore 1972:68).
The leaves and berries are high in vitamin C. The leaves and finely chopped stems contain quinic acid, a former therapeutic for gout said to inhibit uric acid formation but never widely used because of mixed clinical results. The leaves have been widely used to lower or modify blood sugar levels. Many herbalists maintain that bilberry-leaf tea may be useful in stabilizing blood sugar levels in cases of diabetes, and medical research has shown that consumption of the leaf extract decreases blood sugar levels shortly after administration. Taken on regular basis, bilberry tea will gradually help alleviate both glycosuria and hyperglycemia and has a benign but useful effect as an adjunct treatment to diabetes mellitus. The leaves are believed also to stimulate appetite, and have astringent and antiseptic qualities that are useful in urinary disorders.
Other Uses: Cascade bilberry has a particularly sweet berry, and is prized for its flavor. The berries are eaten fresh, baked in pancakes, pies, and muffins, canned, frozen, or made into jams and jellies. Berries are usually picked in late July or August. The leaves can be used fresh or dried to make a tea.
Elk and deer browse the foliage of cascade bilberry. Flowers attract butterflies and other insects. For several species of grouse, huckleberries and bilberries are among the most important summer and early fall foods. Chipmunks, black bear, mice, scarlet tanagers, bluebirds, thrushes, and other songbirds eat berries. Deer and rabbit browse freely on the plants.
