Blackberrying

That brought back some memories !!

We always went blackberrying as a child. My Mum made bramble jelly jam ( as none of us kids liked ‘bits’ in our jam. She strained it through an old stocking suspended on the legs of un upturned stool into a bowl, and the decanted into jars.

In fact my girls wouldn’t eat anything other than Nanny’s jam too!

We take our elder 2 grandkids, they love going . Not much makes it into the jar but judging by the purple fingers and tongues they enjoy it.

I always go blackberrying. I always see lots of people doing it. They are early this year.

Oh my walk home from school had blackberry bushes on each side of the path.
I used to eat lots, so I suppose I ate maggots and things too.

You can wash them in salty water and the undesirables will float to the surface and can be skimmed off.
I fished a few out of the pan when I was cooking some for bramble jelly - the blackberries etc were strained anyway.

I do wonder if vegetarians realise how much meat they may eat inadvertently.

Farmor, my DH made a lovely tea tonight and pudding was a big bowl of ice cream and very ripe brambles with dark middles fresh from the allotment. I thought of your post as I scoffed them, looking straight ahead as I ate.

Not odd at all knickas63. We pick blackberries every year and I make jam and pies. Picked a few to eat on the hoof today as we walked on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path.

When we were children, my granny had a large stand of blackberries - or brambles as we called them in Scotland - in the 'wild' part of her garden so we didn't have to go far afield to gather them. Our Dad made bramble wine, but we were too young to sample it; granny made bramble jelly. When we lived in Norfolk, we discovered a place which nobody else seemed to know about. We picked the luscious berries for several years until one year we turned up to find a notice telling us that the whole field had been sprayed. Disappointed, we turned to our local common which had a plentiful supply. When we moved north the following year, I still had some of them in the freezer with which I made apple and blackberry sorbet. Delicious!

Really? .

Maggiemaybe and Fennel, you may be interested to know that the October 2 week school holiday here in North East Scotland is still known as the Tattie Holidays. You don't see school children picking the tatties now though!

The rule I use when picking is only to pick ones with white/pale green centers. If the middles are dark, the berries are overripe and might have undesirables in them?. You do see large bluebottle type flies around them sometimes.

I BlackBerry every year. I walk regularly with a group of friends and we take appropriate containers with us for foraging. Great rosehips last weekend!

Farmor mentioned maggots. I remember gathering loads of blackberries with my children. I put them in a bowl of salty water just in case there were any insects or maggots. It was horrendous. So many maggots came out of them that I had to throw them all away. I told my aunt and she just said they were an extra bit of protein!

As a result of this thread, I went down the lane to check. Ours are nowhere ready to pick☹️
It's probably for the best, as everything in the kitchen is covered in a thick layer of dust, due to the building work.?

Yes Maggie it was called potato week - halfterm holiday in the autumn term. I didn't do it though.

Fennel, I used to be paid for rosehips too. I remember us taking them into the school hall to be weighed on scales set up in there. I also remember children picking potatoes for the local farmers from the age of about 5. It was back breaking work and I lasted one whole day!

I always go blackberrying. There are loads nearby but still greedy pink should be coming on nicely in a couple of weeks. In the past I've picked elderflowers for wine, elderberries for the most strong red wine ever, rosehips but not a sucess, i picked wild apples ir crab apples for jelly or even with lots sugar for pies. Ive been a real forager in my younger days

POGS aww, what a lovely response to you.
ContraryMary the cat went with you I like that.
I haven’t been blackberrying for about ten years, I should start looking for some, but it would have to be well away from any roads and pollution from exhausts.
Blackberry and apple pie with double cream.....yum.

Another thing we picked was rosehips. Paid a penny a pound (I think) from the health people who made syrup full of vitamin c.

Fennel - crabapple jelly is lovely, but they won’t be ready yet. Can mix with blackberries too, for bramble jelly.

I’ve always picked blackberries, but seem to be the only one who does in my area. People make excuses, such as thinking they have maggots in them. I think they used to be associated with poverty in rural Ireland and for some it brings back bad memories.

How uplifting!

We had fruit trees at out last house and made jams, compotes etc. A lot of work but it lasted most of the winter.
As for wild foraging - there were a few fig trees neer us, though I'm not so keen on figs. And a huge bay bush from which I picked a few sprigs each week to make a bouquet garni.
Now in our new tiny garden I would like to just grow herbs, if we ever manage to clear it.
I've just thought - there's a large crabapple tree over the road - can they be used for anything?

We have a lot in the lane behind our house and pick them regularly. However, I haven't been out there for over a week, as I've been busy with other stuff, and now it's overloaded with so much fruit but sadly most of it is overripe and of no use. I know my mother would have gathered it all in, no matter how soft and mushy, and made gallons of jam. Still, I won't feel guilty because the birds will enjoy the bounty - as will the little hedgehog we saw by the brambles

We go blackberrying every year and GS likes to come too. I like to keep some in the freezer. The blackberries in the lane near our house are plentiful but small this year, because of the dry spell I suspect. We had a special patch where what GS called ‘the biggies’ grew, but that has been sacrificed to the building of a new housing estate. Sad loss!

Blackberry vodka does sound nice. I might try that once I’ve used up the watermelon slush DGS1 and I made to go with my gin (I didn’t tell him that bit!).

That’s lovely, POGS.

We have a lot of brambles on our street and the berries have all been ready for a week or two now, very early for this area. We were just saying yesterday that nobody but us seems to pick them. Not that I’m complaining!