Blackberries

These fruits are offered up by Mother Nature to all those who care to pick them in the hedgerows. What can be more satisfying than a bowl of this inky fruit, especially when it has cost nothing? Just your time spent idly enjoying the sunshine and the sound of birds and bees buzzing. Here are a few pointers to remember when you go foraging.

Remember that the first blackberries at the tip of the stem are good for eating raw. They have bulbous druplets and their taste is sweet. They ripen from the end of August. By mid to late September, the secondary berries ripen. These are the ones mid way up the stem. These are less juicy but are good for cooking in pies and jams and are rather more tart. Lastly, towards the end of the season, the only fruit left on the bramble bushes are small and woody and not much use at all. They can be mixed with apples in a crumble or pie.

It is prudent to mention that when picking blackberries for cooking, pick some unripe red ones. These help strenghthen the flavour and help the fruit to set when making jam or jelly.

If you are of a superstitious nature, remember that it is considered unlucky to pick blackberries after 29th September as the Devil is supposedly in them. However, the GWG will leave that one to your discretion.

The tips of the leaves can be used for making tea and it is said to cure indigestion and purify the blood. In the nineteenth century, blackberry leaves were added to old, re-dried tea-leaves, when the price of real tea was prohibitive. During the hungry times of the Industrial Revolution, poor people cooked parsnips and beetroot with blackberries to sweeten the dish.

Blackberries and apples are a combination that eagerly spring to mind but try them with pears in a crumble for a change. Elizabeth David talks of stuffing blackberries into a watermelon. Cut the watermelon in half, remove the seeds and cut flesh into chunks. Squeeze over some lemon juice and mix with some blackberries. Put the berries back in the melon halves, sprinkle over some sugar and put on ice to keep cool.

For a seasonal breakfast, serve Greek yoghurt with some fresh blackberries and a spoonful of runny honey.

Whatever you do, just make the time to pick some of this delicious fruit. There is nothing better than opening a pot of home-made blackberry jam in the depths of winter. You certainly won't regret it.