blackberry picking

[Pampy Profile]

Yes, I thought that too. People where I live (edge of Saddleworth moor) talk about them with fondness but I've never actually tried them! What area do you live in ?

I was born and raised in Pendlebury and now live in Blackburn, which I got to via Sardinia, Bolton, London and The Netherlands.
My sister lives in Chadderton which isn't too far from you.

[DEB Profile]

You need to pick the blackberries before 29th of September, Michaelmas day, by tradition. For more detail follow this link.

www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-c ... ckberries/

Happy picking

[cherrytree Profile]

The devil spits on them after Michaelmas in Cumbria. Which is September 29th as you say.

[Pommes Profile]

Blackberries here are plentiful this year, but it is not always so. However, I have to plan a year in advance as I make elderberry & blackberry cordial. Delicious cold drink in the summer & drunk warm in the winter. The elderberries are always ready much earlier than the blackberries, & they are then eagerly devoured by the birds, so I use the previous year's harvest of blackberries from the freezer. Thank you, Joan, for the tip of using a pillow case for straining. It sounds much safer than my similar concoction, but using an old net curtain & string to attach to the stool!!!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Oooo, that sounds perfectly delicious, Pommes.
We said we'd go back the week commencing 16th sept - no devil's spit yet

[Pampy Profile]

Just a word of warning to all wild pickers - make sure you don't pick fruit from too low down on the bushes - it could have been "annointed" by a passing dog!

[Joanbunting Profile]

Or too near a busy road - pollution!

[Wic Profile]

I went to the end of the garden this afternoon to see whether the blackberries were ready. They weren’t, but there were lots of Golden Raspberries. Ours are OK if eaten immediately they are picked, but go soggy very quickly if left. Having picked about 1lb of them I thought I may as well make some jam, so I did.

We find Golden Raspberries a very odd experience. They taste like raspberries, but they are yellow. So they only work if you have your eyes closed, otherwise it is quite a surreal experience. It turns out that the jam is like that, too. It tastes like raspberry jam, but it's yellow ...

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Remind me, Wic.
Do you have a big garden, or have you an allotment?

Talking of taste, when I made the pie, the blackberries were intense.
But the remainder were made into one pot of jam, for yoghurt. And are rather underflavoured.

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

Raspberries and blackcurrants are both very easy to grow.

I am fine when mother nature is in control, but everything I have a hand in withers and dies. I've long since given up growing anything other than weeds

I have never had success with Raspberries either .. I have plenty of brambles at the end of my garden, but never any fruit on them, even if I could get through the nettles

[Wic Profile]

Yesterday I went down to the end of the garden to see whether the blackberries were ripe yet. They weren’t, but the Golden Raspberries were, so I picked those instead. They are interesting, you almost need to eat them with your eyes closed because they taste of raspberries but are yellow, which feels more than odd.

The berries don’t last long at all, so I came in and made a couple of pots of jam. This is also a sensory anomaly. It tastes very raspberryish but in colour it looks like chutney. It is a slightly surreal experience.

[Pommes Profile]

The berries don’t last long at all, so I came in and made a couple of pots of jam. This is also a sensory anomaly. It tastes very raspberryish but in colour it looks like chutney. It is a slightly surreal experience.[/quote]

Hi Wic,

Several moons ago, a friend in Portugal asked me to taste a pot of her homemade jam. 'Raspberry jam' I said. She then asked the same of D. & he said 'Strawberry Jam'; In fact it was neither, it was tomato jam!

[Wic Profile]

How interesting! It shows how perception and taste are intertwined, doesn’t it.

My OH has now decided he can’t eat the jam or the fruit because he can’t get past the fact that the raspberries aren’t red.

[Joanbunting Profile]

A bit like M and the yellow ratatouille. He's got over that one though!

[Wic Profile]

Yes, now you mention it! I’m not sure he’ll get over the yellow jam, though. He’d rather have Marmite any day.