Brambles or blackberries

[Poly Hive]

Whilst walking our dogs we found a huge patch of brambles and last Sunday picked some 10 lbs of fruit due to we think the very close water supply for the roots as the crop was massive.

The flavour of these huge berries was to say the least intense and the crumble that night was just amazing in flavour. I added some single cream and TBH wished I hadn't as it diluted the flavour at the end.

We also made some apple and bramble jam and also some jelly.

Anyone else picking?

PH

[Peter]

Yes.  Do you know this, from Seamus Heaney (RIP)?

BLACKBERRY

 

Blackberry Picking

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking.

[Arch]

Yup, I've got about 4 kilos in the freezer for jam and jelly making. The nature reserve I work at is dripping with the things.

[Basil]

Yes.  And very good this year.  Fat, juicy and abundant.

I freeze them spread out in a single layer on trays in the freezer.  I only transfer them to the big bag after over 24 hours.  This ensures that they don't all stick together and small quantities can be poured out of the bag like frozen peas.

Traditionally, we always have a blackberry and apple pie on Christmas eve.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I picked half a stone the other weekend and I might go get more tomorrow.

[hatler]

Best crop for a few years at Blackberry Wood campsite (unsurprisingly).

Amazing volumes.

Bramble to breakfast bowl and eaten within minutes for all of last week. Heaven.

[hatler]

And the apples to go with them are nearly ripe as well.

A scrummy weekend or two ahead of us.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I picked half a stone the other weekend and I might go get more tomorrow.

Funny how half a stone sounds much more than seven pounds!

[phantasmagoriana]

Yes, got a tub in the freezer. I've been putting them in my porridge.

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm hoping we might get some on Sunday on the bikes, but if they're anything like the ones I passed on the way down the road yesterday they might not be ready up here yet.

[Arch]

I'm hoping we might get some on Sunday on the bikes, but if they're anything like the ones I passed on the way down the road yesterday they might not be ready up here yet.

Oddly, when I was down in Winchester last week, I saw lots of brambles that seemed far behind York and Manchester in ripeness. You expect ripeness to start in the South and move North. Maybe it's been drier down there and that's inhibited them...

[citoyen]

Yes, got a tub in the freezer. I've been putting them in my porridge.

Blackberries in porridge are fantastic.

If we're being competitive, I currently have 6kg (a whole stone!) of blackberries in the freezer - and there are plenty more where they came from, waiting to ripen/be picked...

[Mrs Pingu]

I took a food container out on the bike today, more in hope than expectation, but I returned empty handed ;(

[JenM]

I've just returned home with 3kg - some to be cooked and some for the freezer. Planning a few more blackberry picking cycle rides. This is certainly one of the best years I can remember.

[campagman]

The blackberries have done very well in my back garden this year. Just picked enough for my third bowl. They are usually picked at whenever I open the fridge door and for breakfast. This is a benefit of being a lazy gardener.

[Bledlow]

We've had some. Now the blackcurrants are finished (half way down the first jar of jam), blackberries are our free fruit of choice. Yummy with yoghurt.

There's an uncultivated patch on the allotments, & brambles in the hedges. No need to venture further afield.

[perpetual dan]

There's blackberries on the cut through to town. I have a few each time I pass. Lovely.

[Ham]

Did a rather nice pud on Sat night:

Blackberry & Apple potty things.

Make up a blackberry & apple puree: blitz the blackberries, pass through a sieve. Steam desert apples (about 3 or 4: 1 blackberry : apple) for a few minutes, cool and blitz together, lob in fridge.

Beat equal double cream & fromage frais with a little icing sugar and vanilla essence until firm (not stiff, you want it to run a bit)

In a glass thingy, crumble some ginger nuts. Add a layer of cream (reserving a dollop to go on top), a layer of blackberry and chill.

Before serving, dollop the dollop  and garnish how you like. I used some whole blackberries, more crumbled ginger nuts, crystallised ginger and mint leaves.

Nom.

[citoyen]

garnish

Ponce.

[tiermat]

I have found an abundant cache on my commute, I shall sally forth tonight, armed with a plastic box, to liberate some

[Ham]

garnish

Ponce.

Dat's me 

garnish - from the German gar nichts 

[citoyen]

 

[Regulator]

Very few blackberries ready for picking in Cambridgeshire.   The last few weeks I've been taking bags with me when we take Jack for a walk - but what fruit there are on the brambles tend to be small and unripe.

I think it's just been too dry this year.

[Arch]

Got a kilo and a half this afternoon, and stewed a kilo with apple, lemon, cinnamon and cloves. The juice is now draining to make jelly tomorrow evening. The rest are frozen for a crumble in a couple of weeks.

I'd say quite a lot of ours are starting to go over now, I got quite purple fingers from squishy ones. I explored a few off-the-path areas and it's easy to see where people usually go, as the berries left off-piste were much bigger.

I've been freezing them in tubs because I'll just want bulk quantities for jam, but did suggest to MFWHTBAB that we should do some in trays to bag up as free-flow ones, for him to snack on. I just hope there are some left in a couple of weeks, which is the next time I'll be over there with access to his freezer (I've only got an icebox, so no room for trays).

[rr]

Found several bushes like this

in our local hedgerows.
Six pots of blackberry and apple jam and several breakfasts.