Local wins huckleberry jam competition

SANDPOINT — Huckleberries are the name of the game for Amy Delducco, Kootenai resident.

Delducco won first place in the dessert and the jam competitions at the Trout Creek Huckleberry Festival this year and will be selling her award-winning jam at the Bonner Mall Farmers Market, Saturday, Sept. 12 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

She has been making the huckleberry jam for about 8 years, mainly to give to family and friends.

She started offering it for sale last fall, and this was the first time she entered the jam into a competition. She has sold her huckleberry, strawberry and raspberry jams at craft fairs around Sandpoint. She grows strawberries and raspberries for her jams.

“I grow them myself, organically,” Delducco said. “The huckleberries are hand picked by me. My sister and I go picking every year.”

Huckleberry cookies were the winning dessert, beating out a tort that took second place.

“Elizabeth, the organizer, said it was the first time a cookie had won that she could remember,” Delducco said. “Pies have traditionally won in the past few years.”

Delducco is a real estate agent with Tomlinson Sotheby's Intl. Realty, and does offer potential clients a taste of her huckleberry desserts.