In praise of blackberries

[shanders]

Blackberries are great in smoothies too - stick a handful in the blender with a chopped apple and a banana - delicious. You can add a bit of milk to make it less thick. Or ice cubes instead of milk (this also makes it lovely and cold when you drink it).

 

[Mrs Magpie]

You may not want to be actually eating the craft club jam in that case...

There's a world of difference betwenn avoid and shun

 

[Shmu]

I usually avoid berries low enough to be within dog leg-lifting range myself too.

That is a very good point. This street is rammed out with dogs, so I should really be taking more care here .

 

[newbie]

strange year though. They're all ripe together, with little left to come. Most plants this year seem to have been early and had short seasons. I'm sure it means something but I've no idea what.

 

[beeboo]

That is a very good point. This street is rammed out with dogs, so I should really be taking more care here .

Well, my view is that dog piddle, although not exactly my preferred marinade, isn't particularly nasty in terms of carrying disease or anything (AFAIK, could be wrong). And if you're making jam your boiling it up enough to kill off any germs anyway.

As for road fumes - I try to avoid berries near the road, but heck, you're breathing it every day anyway (and many of the worst nasties in exhaust fumes dissipate pretty quickly within a few metres of the source).

And frankly they're FREE so even if they were radioactive I'd probably still eat 'em!

 

[mrskp]

i was very excited to find that there is a blackberry bush in my new garden.

well not my garden exactly, but it forms part of the border between myself and never at home first floor neighbour.

not holding much hope of anything much this year (too busy moving everything about, planting bulbs and getting the shed up) but i shall try and tend it carefully so that next year you'll find me sitting on the kerb of the Paisley Road West selling them by the pound (after i've taken my fair share for the freezer of course),

 

[neilh]

i love brambles (not blackberries in scotland) and have picked a few already; can't wait to go out and pick loads somewhere though.

 

[neilh]

i was very excited to find that there is a blackberry bush in my new garden.

didn't see this - if it's on paisley road west it's a bramble bush

 

[rubbershoes]

i picked a couple of pounds (that's a kilo for you young 'uns ) in about twenty minutes today

and i made my first crumble of the season. i didn't have a any digestive biscuits but it cane out just fine

 

[mrskp]

is that right ???

well it looked like a good old blackberry bush from where i was standing.

i shall have to try and speak in foreign tongues next time i talk to it.

 

[madzone]

What's the difference between brambles and blackberries?

 

[neilh]

What's the difference between brambles and blackberries?

same as between lochs and lakes - one's scottish, the other's english.

 

[madzone]

same as between lochs and lakes - one's scottish, the other's english.

Ahh I see. So bramble fruit will be far superior

 

[neilh]

Ahh I see. So bramble fruit will be far superior

suprisingly enough, it tastes just as sweet by any other name;
it just bugs me when folk start using english versions of words instead of what things have always been called here, cos they're much more influenced by tv, or whatever, than folk around them; s'pose it's the same kinda thing as folk in england getting bugged by americanisms;
the same kinda thing happened wi ned/chav.

 

[madzone]

suprisingly enough, it tastes just as sweet by any other name;
it just bugs me when folk start using english versions of words instead of what things have always been called here, cos they're much more influenced by tv, or whatever, than folk around them; s'pose it's the same kinda thing as folk in england getting bugged by americanisms;
the same kinda thing happened wi ned/chav.

I know what you mean. I left Aberdeen in 1975, just as the oil was starting and every time I went back people were using more and more americansisms. It was when my nana started saying things like gee whiz and calling people guys instead of manny and wifie that I started to get really freaked

 

[wtfftw]

I love blackberries. I treated myself to some (bloody waitrose prices!) and they're all gone. Yum tho, my childhood holidays were spent picking them in dorset.

 

[Geriberry]

I adore berries..blackberries,strawberries etc, that's why I am called Geriberry

 

[Alf Klein]

And Mirto.. another thick blackberry drink... beloved in Sardinia... my latest alcoholic holiday purchase!! MUCH better than the Unicum we brought back from Hungary...

Unicum is difficult to like. Fucking strong though
It's from the House of Zwak

 

[rowan]

Anyone else on a picking frenzy?

I wish!
The huge field next to me has blackberry bushes all round the edge and I've been looking forward to picking the fruit all summer.

The sheep from the field were taken away last weekend so I could take the dogs into the field for the first time in 3 moinths.
I took some plastice boxes with me to collect blackberries, only to find the bastard farmer has been and cut all the hedges right back!!