Blackberrying

Should proofyread! A dying pastime.

I would love to go blackberrying again, but I'm not sure the ten year old 'gangsta' would be up for it.
We used to love it as children.
Covered in scratches, fingers all stained purple, but my mum made lovely apple and blackberry pies.
Sometimes we even got a dollop of Rossi icecream with it.

We have Blackberry bushes in our garden (how lucky ate we?) but they are not doing so well this year. However, whilst dog walking the other day, we picked loads and plan to go back (when it’s cooler) to see what sort of haul we can gather. Ours tends not to be turned into jam (far too much already in our cupboards), but we have started this years batch of blackberry vodka

We used to go blackberrying but are now lucky enough to have a garden which had some wild blackberries in the hedge, which DH has 'cultivated' and added to. The DGC love picking the soft fruit! We never get elderberries as the pigeons reach them first.
I need to find a source of damsons and sloes now.

We like bramble jelly better than the jam.

We have loads in the lane behind our house and I make bramble jelly every year (DH hates the seeds), but it takes forever to make. Then I end up giving it away, as we always have more than we can eat.
Ours are still not ready to pick yet.
Blackberry vodka sounds a good idea.

We always go blackberrying and will this year. Took both DGSs last year and request has been made to do it again. Pies and crumbles. Yummy.

We always went when I was a child, including the cat, all went over to the fields at the back of our house, Mum made masses of Bramble Jelly, plus pies and tarts for all the family, they all chipped in with apples. missdaventure we had Rossi’s ice cream too!
Recently we used to go to a disused quarry where there were rows and rows of Blackberry bushes, went back one year to find all of the bushes were bare, a dog walker said that a large mini bus full of people showed up with crates and picked the lot. This has happened each year, we can’t seem to get there early enough in the year to beat them to it.

My DGC, age 5 and 7, absolutely love picking (and eating, obviously) absolutely anything edible, and blackberrying is definitely on their seasonal calendar.

ContraryMary88, you didn't by any chance have Rossi's ice cream in Hounslow, did you? I used to love their coffee ice cream, from a shop near the station.

I asked my 12 year old GD last Saturday if she wanted to carry on the tradition of blackberrying with Nan , we used to both go out on my mobility scooter but those days are gone.

She gave me such a look I thought she was going to say something like obviously not , now she is 12 going on 22. She said ' Nan I can't believe you even thought I wouldn't want to go with you, it's one of ' our special times'.

So God willing it will be strawberries and ice cream soon until I am sick of eating them .

Always go blackberrying every year, and have a freezer full of blackberries for crumbles, pies and jams. They are free!

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!

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!).

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!

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 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?

How uplifting!

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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