Blackberry Way to Go (Brambles)

Member Name: pagso

Product:	Brambles
Date:	03/09/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free, easy to find fruit, makes delicious puddings

Disadvantages: Hazards of picking - nettles, wasps & thorns

I have some happy memories of time spent blackberry picking with my mother; spending time one on one with a parent is always special and in my mind is linked with warm late summer days. Now I have my own daughter we have been going once or twice a year in the late summer - easy to do as brambles seem to grow pretty much everywhere.

Blackberries growing wild are not quite as large as those you can buy in the supermarket but I can't really work out why people pay £1.99 for a measly punnet of the berries when they are available for free alongside most roads in rural and semi-rural areas. Even when I lived in London it was always easy to find them. They are quite easy to pick although the bramble bush is thorned and where you find them growing wild its almost certain that you'll find nettles too, so long sleeves and trousers help. Ripe blackberries are very juicy so fingers get stained purple after a picking session - easily washed off hands but not so easily washed off clothing!

We use blackberries to make fruit pies and crumbles, usually with the addition of apples and a fairly long period of cooking is required to break down the slightly gritty taste of blackberries. I am not so keen on them raw although we usually eat a couple while we're picking - after all if they are not alongside a busy, polluted road, I guess they're certainly organic. I imagine that shop bought blackberries grow so large with the help of chemicals perhaps.

Best time of year is late summer, early autumn to find blackberries at their best.

Summary: Lovely summer memories for the taking