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Thread: Blackberries!

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    Blackberries!

    I've just finished two weeks fabulous holiday. We stayed at home (Stroud, gloucestershire) and did loads of walking.....

    Anyway, on our walks, we picked lots of blackberries and I couldn't help noticing that very few people seem to do this these days. I used to pick them as a child and then in turn with my daughter - great fun and the resultant apple and blackberry crumble (with lashings of cream or ice-cream) was well received!

    Did anyone else do this as a child and do you still?


    Elaine

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    Re: Blackberries!

    We always went blackberry picking with my Mum when we were kids and my Mum would make apple and blackberry pies.

    Me and Gav often take the kids for walks along the river lea on summer evenings and a few weeks back we took our buckets along and collect hundreds of sweet plump blackberries. A great way to kill a few hours on a nice evening and you get free fruit! Bonus!

    We had so many that I made three batches of this Apple and Blackberry tray cake. It was absolutely delicious.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    We always went blackberry picking with my Mum when we were kids and my Mum would make apple and blackberry pies.

    Me and Gav often take the kids for walks along the river lea on summer evenings and a few weeks back we took our buckets along and collect hundreds of sweet plump blackberries. A great way to kill a few hours on a nice evening and you get free fruit! Bonus!

    We had so many that I made three batches of this Apple and Blackberry tray cake. It was absolutely delicious.

    Mmmmmm, that sounds good - another recipe to try I think!


    Elaine

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    Re: Blackberries!

    I cycled down the strawberry line on Wednesday, despite its name, lots of people blackberrying
    but I think most people prefer iPhones these days

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    Re: Blackberries!

    We didn't go blackberrying as kids, although we used to go to pick your own farms for strawberries & raspberries. We also used to go conkering down 'Conker Alley'.

    However, now I'm living on a farm, we've got lots of hedgerows and last year I did 3 afternoons out blackberrying with one of my nephews. I had a whole freezer full of blackberries by the end of it, and have made lots of apple/blackberry crumble throughout the year. Lush!

    Went out this Saturday to blackberry pick taking one of the dogs with me, but was thwarted by the best hedge being in a field that my OH had forgotten to tell me had his cattle in. He assured me they'd leave me alone, but curious as they are, they of course came over (thinking I was bringing them food probably). Fine when it was the 3 in that field, but when the other 30+ turned up to see what was going on, I decided to make a retreat. Didn't particularly want to turn my back on them, while I picked berries from the hedge! So only 8 blackberries later, and we won't be having blackberries over the next year as I don't think the cattle are being moved from the field until after the blackberries will be off.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Always went Brambling (none of this nonsense Blackberrrying - that is just a supermarket wheeze to make you pay for what you can get for free! ) when we were kids.

    We still do!! I'm looking forward to plenty of Brambles at the end of September. My extended family go en masse - as a result we end up with loads of: Bramble Crumble, Pies, serve with Cream, Ice Cream, Fromage Frais, versions of Cranachen, Jam, Jelly .... oh drat, I'm making myself hungry

    PS any new recipes always welcome

    Cheers Whitetiger

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    Re: Blackberries!

    We used to do it loads as kids and there was always plenty for us to take home a few bucket-loads, as well as full stomachs!
    There does seem to be a general fear nowadays about eating things that grow in the wild rather than in the supermarket fridges.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Picking your spot carefully, and a good wash for everything when you get home - should stop any bugs in their tracks...Anyway if we don't eat the odd germ, then we would have no immunity!

    WT

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Quote Originally Posted by whitetiger1518 View Post
    Picking your spot carefully, and a good wash for everything when you get home - should stop any bugs in their tracks...Anyway if we don't eat the odd germ, then we would have no immunity!
    I must admit, I do wonder why people pick blackberries right next to really busy roads - surely they taste of fuel

    Anyway, apparently if you wash the fruit in a bowl of water with a couple pinches of salt added it helps with the little beastie eviction

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Yes, there's nothing like freshly-picked blackberries. I use them to make blackberry liqueur.

    Simply put a bottle of vodka, gin or white rum in a 1 litre screw-top jar, add a couple of teaspoons of sugar and top up to the brim of the jar with blackberries. Screw the top shut and shake vigorously. Leave for 3 or 4 weeks, shaking once a day, then strain and bottle. Leave to mature for a few months and it's lovely! Goes down nicely mixed with cream soda or lemonade (or even coke). It's even nice neat if you like that sort of thing - I have a hip flask full of the stuff on my desk at the moment

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    Re: Blackberries!

    My Grandad had a huge frame about 10 feet long and 5 feet high, sort of a zig zag shape, with brambles climbing on it.

    When you pick them, they grow back again - as do raspberries and loganberries.

    He used horse manure, and I think we'd get about 3 lots.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    I've got a massive thornless blackberry plant in my garden forming an arch - it looks fab in Spring when it flowers, in Summer when the fruit is red and now when it's ripe. I can easily take cuttings for anyone that wants one. I don't think the fruit has as much flavour as the hedgerow variety, though it's very big and juicy.

    I must have eaten thousands of unwashed blackberries with bugs in during my lifetime and it's never done me any harm. I certainly couldn't be doing with salt water washing, it's all I can do to get the stuff into the house without being scoffed.

    My mum used to make blackberry and apple pies as well, but the wild food I really miss is the mushrooms. The fields on the farm where I lived yielded huge baskets of them. I never worried about picking the wrong type and poisoning everyone, though I would now! Sadly, I never go home in September these days so I don't know if they still grow well there.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    I always attract strange looks from people when I'm out picking wild berries and mushrooms. But why pay a fortune for supermarket berries that are full of pesticide, when I can take a few empty ice-cream tubs with me when I'm out walking my dog anyway, and get them absolutely free??

    I pick blackberries, raspberries, wild strawberries and blueberries as well as a few types of mushroom. This results in lots of yummy desserts, cakes, jams - and for the mushrooms, a lot of nice dinners!

    I've not been very good at picking blackberries and other berries this year, but think I'll go out picking this weekend. The freezer is already full of chanterelles, so I really should pick things we can have for pudding, too, or make some jam!

    Do any of you get strange questions from people when you're out picking wild food? I've had questions from people seeing me pick sweet chestnuts (yummy - and extremely expensive in the supermarkets!!) along the lines of 'Are you picing concers?' - no, I'm picking edible sweet chestnuts - 'You can't eat concers!' - I know, that's why I'm picking sweet chestnuts - 'But you can't eat concers, they're poisonous!' - I'm not picking concers, I'm picking Spanish sweet chestnuts!! Like in the song, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, you know? - 'But you can't eat concers!' - Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh!!!

    I've also had people questioning me when picking blueberries: What are you picking? Are they edible? How do you know they're blueberries? You sure you can eat them? How do you know they're not poisonous? etc etc.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Yep we used to go out Brambling too.
    Along the old railwayline and armed with a walking stick to pull those elusive just out of reach ones - into reachi'm sure they always tasted the best.
    Made lots of crumbles and pies - now I make sure I collect crab apples while I'm out too and make Bramble and Apple jelly - my favourite - and making it makes the whole house smell great.

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    Re: Blackberries!

    As a kid, most of the blackberrying was in the back garden, which was large and wild, we'd often come out in a rash after eating them, just a bit off putting.

    Now living in the home town of "Fergus the Forager" who has been trying to survive for a year on foraged food, I just have to cross the road to get to acres of blackberries, rosehips, gorse (for gorse flower "champagne"), sea kale, sea beet, alexanders, rosehips, hawthorn, sloes and much more (if I could identify it). The trouble is, with all that picking, preparing, and cooking, there's hardly time to down the sloe gin.

    Oh, and the blackberries, mostly ripe and tiny round here, after all, despite a couple of showers yesterday, there is still a drought on...

    Greg

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Quote Originally Posted by Sheepman View Post
    As a kid, most of the blackberrying was in the back garden, which was large and wild, we'd often come out in a rash after eating them, just a bit off putting.
    I've heard some people come out in a rash after eating too many plums.



    Now living in the home town of "Fergus the Forager" who has been trying to survive for a year on foraged food, I just have to cross the road to get to acres of blackberries, rosehips, gorse (for gorse flower "champagne"), sea kale, sea beet, alexanders, rosehips, hawthorn, sloes and much more (if I could identify it).
    He sounds like my sort of guy. http://www.wildmanwildfood.com/ At this time of year my mini-challenge is to see how little I can spend at the supermarket, although the main source of supply is stuff I've grown myself. And I draw the line at road-kill!

    I've just spent hours bottling plums in Kilner jars with mixed success. It's a right load of hassle, took ages to find the right lids and seals and some don't seem to have worked properly anyway. Never mind, I love stewed plums. The successful bottles can join my store of elderflower champagne.

    Has anyone got a recipe for gorse champagne?

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Thanks for the link, but now I've spent too long catching up on Fergus. I can confirm from a demo that he did that his cooking is very tasty, and unusual.

    this was where I heard of "gorse flower champagne" as it was referred to in the TV programme, but from the recipe I don't think there would be much fizz, unless the fermentatin wasn't as complete as Hugh had planned.
    http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes...ecipe_p_1.html

    Greg

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    Re: Blackberries!

    I'm obviously very much a novice when it comes to foraging, judging by some of the posts on this thread. I'd never picked berries, wild or otherwise, before I met my husband.

    However he always went picking berries with his family as a child, and this year I've had great fun turning the fruits of our very successful wild raspberry and bramble-picking expeditions into jams, jellies and cordials. Once bramble season is over I've got my eye on the wild rose hips to make rose hip syrup; has anyone tried making that one? How did it turn out?

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Quote Originally Posted by firefly View Post
    Once bramble season is over I've got my eye on the wild rose hips to make rose hip syrup; has anyone tried making that one? How did it turn out?
    I did try to make this once, a very long time ago. A somewhat sticky process but I think it tasted OK. I was brought up on Delrosa rosehip syrup which I think is now banned from feeding to infants because of its high sugar content. Tastes gorgeous, however.

    Elderberry syrup is my next foraging project. Any recipes?

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    Re: Blackberries!

    Quote Originally Posted by firefly View Post
    I'm obviously very much a novice when it comes to foraging, judging by some of the posts on this thread. I'd never picked berries, wild or otherwise, before I met my husband.

    However he always went picking berries with his family as a child, and this year I've had great fun turning the fruits of our very successful wild raspberry and bramble-picking expeditions into jams, jellies and cordials. Once bramble season is over I've got my eye on the wild rose hips to make rose hip syrup; has anyone tried making that one? How did it turn out?
    I made some for an event I was doing last weekend - it's REALLY sweet but has got quite a nice taste when you get over that. I found the recipe on the cottage smallholder website (just google rosehip syrup recipes - it's one of the ones on the first page)
    I think it was Hugh-Fearnley that suggested you could have it on pancakes, waffles, ice cream etc., and I met someone that had had it in place of Maple syrup with their bacon for breakfast.
    It wasn't difficult to make - helpful to have a food processor and a fairly large pan.

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