Blackberries are ripening earlier and earlier, before apples, their traditional partner in desserts. What to do with them? A recipe for Blackberry sauce for duck
I love this, love those blackberries. But the seeds!!! I gathered wild blackberries in Tuscany when my children were small and willing to help, boiled the seedy berries with sugar, then put them through what Tuscans call a passapurea, a vegetable mill, which held back the seeds. They made a lovely jam which we ate on slices of rustic bread toasted in olive oil till crisp and golden.
I suspect blackberries prefer cool temperatures. The ones I picked in England this July were fat and juicy, a high ratio of fruit to seeds. But I confess I remember those we picked on the lower slopes in Greece were much seedier than those higher up the mountain - and you couldn't wait too many days once they had ripened to harvest them. I love that smoky element of their flavour. And quite enjoy the odd distracting seed that sticks in the teeth...
I always found Marionberries in nw Washington state around and near whidbey island. Sometimes I Sam’s club has a large jar of marionberry jam. They are quite different from back berries although in the wild the patches often overlap..they are delicious and make a great syrup.
In my youthful foraging days in Vermont, the late-summer blackberries were the least interesting of the seasonal wild berries I gathered. They had barely any flavor, and very little pulp or juice surrounding their multitude of seeds. Earlier in the summer, there was a type of blackberry, called a dewberry by the locals, that grew close to the ground in the old pastures, not on canes, which made them difficult to gather, as it required moving about on one's knees. Dewberries were plump and juicy, and resembled the blackberries you describe. they reminded me a bit of the marionberries I had found in Washington State, though the dewberries lacked their ambrosial aroma and flavor. My foraging these days is sorely limited, but I happily buy cultivated berries from the local farmers who grow them.
I was in Southeast Vermont, and found dewberries growing along the ground in abandoned pastures adjacent to the old farmhouse where we lived. I don't know where else they can be found, but in any case, they appeared earlier in the summer, after the wild strawberries. Loganberries are a Pacific Northwest berry, if I am not mistaken. If they are ground cover blackberries, then they are probably like dewberries. If they grow on canes or in shrubs, then not.
It sounds like a lyrical childhood! Loganberries grow quite prolifically across Europe (the Royal Navy took them to sea to prevent scurvy) but I find they have less flavour than blackberries. I'll go out this weekend - before global warming, the more traditional time to pick blackberries - and see if there are any, and if they are worth picking or just all seed.
Not my childhood, which was in Los Angeles. J and I lived in Vermont for the first six years of our marriage. We lived in an idyllic spot for three of those years--an old hill farm with an expansive view of the Connecticut River Valley, which we shared with a convivial small group of friends with whom we shared wonderful meals, raucous games of backgammon and pinochle, volleyball and badminton in the summer, growing a large garden, swimming in a pond just a five minute walk down the road, and cross-country skiing in the winter.
How lucky we were, in the US and in Europe, to move into adulthood and the creation of our own families and communities, to develop in times we thought would last forever of exploration and curiosity, with the confidence that freedom for all and all ideas, if respected, could last forever.
I swear blackberries were September when I was a child? But all the foraging is out of kilter - we used to have to wait until the first frost for the sloes, now if you wait that long they'll all be gone!
I'm currently covered in scars from the blackberries I foraged in West London throughout July. And with every bramble I muttered 'don't you belong in September?'. IT'S ALL WRONG, WE'RE KILLING EVERYTHING. 😭
July??! Again, as with Rachel Phipps' comment, yours is so disheartening. Though I'd relish anything foraged in West London. Glad something grows there.
In little scrubs I've come across people leading small foraging tours. There are brambles and plums and wild garlic that I know of, but I'm sure the pros know a lot more.
In Belfast airport in line to check in and once again you calm my foodie soul. I was in Donegal for a kayaking trip and we picked wild blackberries while hiking along the headlands. I had blackberries as a child in our garden. Thanks for the time travel magic that your writing always delivers ❤️
To you in Belfast Airport from On-My- Way-To-Mykonos-Airport: I'm always do boosted when someone says they enjoy Tabled. I hope almost as much as a blackberry picking walk...
What a charming story about you and yiayias. I wonder if they are still picking the blackberries. And how interesting to point out they no longer mature at the same time as apples for our crumbles and pies. It hadn’t occurred to me.
Thank you! I think foraging and preserving are still going strong across Greece. But whether they will continue with the next generation is another question.
Blackberries call out for foraging, especially in southern British Columbia and on Vancouver Island. They're not so common in the wild in Ontario
You'd be amazed how prolific they are in the parks and commons around Central London!
I grabbed a few in July while walking in Kensington Gardens Hyde Park with a friend. Sweet and tart
I love this, love those blackberries. But the seeds!!! I gathered wild blackberries in Tuscany when my children were small and willing to help, boiled the seedy berries with sugar, then put them through what Tuscans call a passapurea, a vegetable mill, which held back the seeds. They made a lovely jam which we ate on slices of rustic bread toasted in olive oil till crisp and golden.
I suspect blackberries prefer cool temperatures. The ones I picked in England this July were fat and juicy, a high ratio of fruit to seeds. But I confess I remember those we picked on the lower slopes in Greece were much seedier than those higher up the mountain - and you couldn't wait too many days once they had ripened to harvest them. I love that smoky element of their flavour. And quite enjoy the odd distracting seed that sticks in the teeth...
I always found Marionberries in nw Washington state around and near whidbey island. Sometimes I Sam’s club has a large jar of marionberry jam. They are quite different from back berries although in the wild the patches often overlap..they are delicious and make a great syrup.
I had never heard of these! There is still so much foraging loot to learn about!
I have lost the ability to like posts so here's the ❤️ you would have had.
In my youthful foraging days in Vermont, the late-summer blackberries were the least interesting of the seasonal wild berries I gathered. They had barely any flavor, and very little pulp or juice surrounding their multitude of seeds. Earlier in the summer, there was a type of blackberry, called a dewberry by the locals, that grew close to the ground in the old pastures, not on canes, which made them difficult to gather, as it required moving about on one's knees. Dewberries were plump and juicy, and resembled the blackberries you describe. they reminded me a bit of the marionberries I had found in Washington State, though the dewberries lacked their ambrosial aroma and flavor. My foraging these days is sorely limited, but I happily buy cultivated berries from the local farmers who grow them.
I've never heard of mario berries! And though I have heard of dewberries, I've never eaten them. Where would I find them? Are the East Coast only?
I want to go back in time and try dewberry! Is it anything like loganberry?
I have NO idea! Where would we find them?
I was in Southeast Vermont, and found dewberries growing along the ground in abandoned pastures adjacent to the old farmhouse where we lived. I don't know where else they can be found, but in any case, they appeared earlier in the summer, after the wild strawberries. Loganberries are a Pacific Northwest berry, if I am not mistaken. If they are ground cover blackberries, then they are probably like dewberries. If they grow on canes or in shrubs, then not.
It sounds like a lyrical childhood! Loganberries grow quite prolifically across Europe (the Royal Navy took them to sea to prevent scurvy) but I find they have less flavour than blackberries. I'll go out this weekend - before global warming, the more traditional time to pick blackberries - and see if there are any, and if they are worth picking or just all seed.
Not my childhood, which was in Los Angeles. J and I lived in Vermont for the first six years of our marriage. We lived in an idyllic spot for three of those years--an old hill farm with an expansive view of the Connecticut River Valley, which we shared with a convivial small group of friends with whom we shared wonderful meals, raucous games of backgammon and pinochle, volleyball and badminton in the summer, growing a large garden, swimming in a pond just a five minute walk down the road, and cross-country skiing in the winter.
How lucky we were, in the US and in Europe, to move into adulthood and the creation of our own families and communities, to develop in times we thought would last forever of exploration and curiosity, with the confidence that freedom for all and all ideas, if respected, could last forever.
I swear blackberries were September when I was a child? But all the foraging is out of kilter - we used to have to wait until the first frost for the sloes, now if you wait that long they'll all be gone!
I'm currently covered in scars from the blackberries I foraged in West London throughout July. And with every bramble I muttered 'don't you belong in September?'. IT'S ALL WRONG, WE'RE KILLING EVERYTHING. 😭
July??! Again, as with Rachel Phipps' comment, yours is so disheartening. Though I'd relish anything foraged in West London. Glad something grows there.
In little scrubs I've come across people leading small foraging tours. There are brambles and plums and wild garlic that I know of, but I'm sure the pros know a lot more.
I'm glad - though saddened - you've noticed it, too. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it.
In Belfast airport in line to check in and once again you calm my foodie soul. I was in Donegal for a kayaking trip and we picked wild blackberries while hiking along the headlands. I had blackberries as a child in our garden. Thanks for the time travel magic that your writing always delivers ❤️
To you in Belfast Airport from On-My- Way-To-Mykonos-Airport: I'm always do boosted when someone says they enjoy Tabled. I hope almost as much as a blackberry picking walk...
What a charming story about you and yiayias. I wonder if they are still picking the blackberries. And how interesting to point out they no longer mature at the same time as apples for our crumbles and pies. It hadn’t occurred to me.
Thank you! I think foraging and preserving are still going strong across Greece. But whether they will continue with the next generation is another question.
I have an idea: all subscribers get to go on a tour of north-west Greece with Julia, to go foraging with the yiayias!
YAMAS!
Absolutely up for that! I'm currently in Naxos. Shall I just stick around and wait?
You may have to wait for our arrival until next February. But I am sure you won't mind that!
I'll hang on indefinitely. Happily.