Blackberries

[dinahsmum]

How has your crop been?
They obviously didn't enjoy all the rain we had here and we have had a miserable crop. I picked a few the start of last week but they were small and not very succulent. Have just been out again and they are a little better but still by no means a good crop.
Sloes are sparse too, though I don't actually make sloe gin.

Isn't blackberry and apple crumble a food of the gods? That lovely perfumed taste of the berries -typically English (maybe that should be British - happy to change it if our Welsh and Scottish members say so). I have a boysenberry cane growing at the allotment and that is a lovely blackberry-ish hybrid. It crops early July, so it's nice to get the blackberry taste early. It's very prolific and easy to grow, if you have a spare corner in your garden.

[Mags]

I've noticed how pricey the blackberries have been in the shops this year, they are almost a luxury now..:roll: My Dad used to grow them in his huge garden years ago and they were gorgeous .......... blackberry and apple crumble or blackberry and apple tart every weekend...mmmmmm!:D

The wild ones that grow in the hedgerows have been really small and shrivelled this year .........do people still go along the country roads blackberrying now? :?

[dinahsmum]

That's what I was doing Mags - why buy when you can get for free?

[Mags]

Very true DM.........just remember not to pick the ones that grow low down..;):lol:

[dinahsmum]

Indeed! Dinah helps herself to them.

Have to pick by the end of the month (or possibly Michelmas = 29 Sept) anyway, as the devil wees/spits on them then, depending on which old legend you prefer.

[PoshPuss]

Blackberries... the smell of them brings on the Autumn mood.
Now you got me thinking of Ambrosia custard and crumble toppings... and I'm supposed to be slimming :shock:
It'll be toffee apples next :-D

[dandysmom]

You've made my mouth water! As Mags said, they're pricy in the market here too. In my younger days I did pick the wild ones growing along the edge of the woods; they were small but very flavorful; have gotten a bit long in the tooth for that now!

[Mags]

My next door neighbour has a 'stray' bramble which grows over her shed at the bottom of the garden. All the local cats appear to walk along the fence, jump over onto the shed, stop ............ and then lift their tails and spray all over the bramble! :shock: Every year her husband is up the step ladder, onto the roof and picks every ripe blackberry in sight!! :shock: I did tactfully tell her that the cats always seem to use the blackberries as a scent marking spot .......... her reply was that she washes them thoroughly before cooking them! :shock::roll: Yuk! wash or no wash I couldn't eat those!!:lol:

[Moli]

I don't grow Blackberrys, but where I walk the dogs there are umpteen blackberry bushes, and they are laden with fruit....Gypsy loves therm and regularly helps herself!

[calismum]

just picked up this post - we have a huge row of 'brambles' up the road and I was considering getting out and picking them for us. My mouth is watering at the thought of apple and bramble crumble, with custard. (need to delay that diet again!!)

Remember my gran making bramble jelly but no idea how she did it. Might try and google a recipe.

CM

[dandysmom]

just picked up this post - we have a huge row of 'brambles' up the road and I was considering getting out and picking them for us. My mouth is watering at the thought of apple and bramble crumble, with custard. (need to delay that diet again!!)

Remember my gran making bramble jelly but no idea how she did it. Might try and google a recipe.

CM

CM, do you have elderberries in the UK? I think they're related to ligonberries, not sire....anyhow they grow wild here; as a child I'd help my gran pick buckets of them by the railroad tracks and watch her make jam! Yummy, not commercially available. I've never tackled jam making myself ....

[calismum]

not sure - never seen them, we do have elderflower cordial so I'm thinking maybe and I've not seen them. Tend to get more soft fruits in England, I'm in Scotland where we tend to be a bit more limited in the varieties commonly available.

Found this website:-

http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/132/blackberry-jelly-recipe/

thought a few of the recipes looked quite good, but I might have a go at the bramble jelly, doesn't sound too hard ;) (famous last words huh)

CM