Blackberries!
Before we came down to Sacramento to dog-sit my brother’s dog, I spent nearly three hours picking blackberries on the land.
Near the barn is a huge cedar tree, with a smaller deciduous tree entwined with it. At the bottom of these closely-combined trees is a large blackberry bush, which spreads out on every side.
For the past few weeks, I have monitored the gradually ripening fruit. They’ve gone from pink to red to nearly black, and a good-sized crop was finally ready to pick on Sunday.
I’ve never picked blackberries before in my life.
At first, my choice of apparel was wrong, wrong, wrong. As soon as I saw that the berries were ripe, I immediately began picking. Unfortunately I was clad in just shorts and flip-flops. What a city slicker!
It soon became apparent that I needed more protection from the brambles and stickers, so I changed to long pants, long-sleeved shirt, hiking boots and then donned a pair of gloves.
Much better.
Some of the blackberries looked ready to pick, but in fact were not. I quickly learned how to gauge how easily they came off the vine. If there was any resistance at all, I left them to ripen for a couple more days.
But many berries practically dropped into my hand without effort. Juicy, sweet, so full of flavor. What a rush, and a surprising source of entertainment!
The simplest things are often the best.
I really got into picking. I searched the dilapidated bunkhouse kitchen for suitable containers to hold the increasing bounty, and found one plastic bowl without a lid.
After this was quickly filled, I went back and rifled through an ancient wooden kitchen cabinet and came up with several dusty plastic “Big gulp” beverage cups hiding in a dusty corner. After I rinsed them with a little bottled water, these too, were filled to the brim.
I had a sh**-load of blackberries!
We gave one container to the owner of the land, our dear friend L. in Nevada City, on our way down the hill to Sacramento. She was thrilled, and said that the blackberries would taste wonderful with mango sorbet. I’ll have to try that!
Another container went to my brother and his wife, who took them up to Arcata the next day when they visited their daughter.
For dessert that night, James and I had blackberries with lemon sorbet, which just happened to be in the freezer. Yum!
There was still plenty left over for blackberry jam. James has an extremely easy recipe, using agar-agar as a thickening agent, and stevia root powder for sweetener. Since there are no preservatives, it has to be kept in the refrigerator (or freezer). No problem there, since we’d scarf it up soon enough anyway.
We had blackberry jam spread over toasted sourdough bread this morning and it was HEAVEN.
I think I’m going to like living in the woods. Very much.
August 8, 2007 at 11:51 am
In our parts there is a difference between blackberries and black raspberries. I’m not sure from the picture which your crop is close to, but either one is great. After we moved in I discovered small bushes of black raspberries which I am trying desperately to encourage. I love them.
Given my penchant for sinful things, one of my favorites is homemade black raspberry ice cream. I also love them on cereal. Heck, I just love them plain. Unlike many other folks I don’t even mind the seeds. They are part of the experience.
The thought of that jam on toasted sourdough is making my mouth water right now.
August 8, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I haven’t heard of black raspberries until your comment. These very well COULD be. Being the city slicker that I am, I don’t know the difference!
August 8, 2007 at 11:12 pm
picking blackberries is one of life’s greatest pleasures
and so nice that an invasive nasty weed actually has some benefit !
August 9, 2007 at 5:59 am
We had about an acre of these growing wildly on the family property down in Tuolumne County. Wandering though them was like going through one of those hedge mazes to harvest them all. Ultimately, I think the wildlife enjoyed more of the fruit than we did. Still, it was an excellent way to waste a couple of hours on a warm summer afternoon.
August 10, 2007 at 6:11 am
Wow, what a fabulous bounty you have there! David (my hubby) says that the difference between blackberries and black raspberries (which he calls “blackcaps”
is the size. It looks like you’ve got full-fledged blackberries - those are the nice big suckers! Congrats on discovering them and finding such pleasure in the simpler things in life. That’s fabulous!
(By the way, I promise to respond to your sweet and wonderful emails soon, this festival’s got me completely swamped with chamber music, orchestra concerts and other craziness!)
August 10, 2007 at 8:23 am
This reminded me of a happy childhood memory: picking what I assume, living in PA, were black raspberries in my grandparents’ backyard every year; always getting “scolded” (teasingly) for eating more than I actually gathered for my grandmother to make tarts and pies and even just to freeze and eat as cold snacks.
September 5, 2007 at 10:46 am
mmmmmmmmm - couldn’t you dehydrate some and then use them on cereals?? save some jam for me plz xoxox
September 17, 2007 at 9:42 pm
In Louisiana, we had Black berries and then we had Dew berries. Dew berries were identical to Black berries, but more tart, grew on low vines just under the Black berries, and ripened just before the Black berries. Or was it just after? We would pick all afternoon, eating our fill as we went along, and still come home with enough for giant homemade cobblers.
October 25, 2007 at 8:29 am
Never have heard of black raspberries, but I have sampled tasted yellow ones. Blackberries are great.
http://livingprimitively.com/
November 23, 2007 at 11:33 am
Those are blackberries! Black raspberries look just like red raspberries except for the color. In some parts of the country the colloquial name for raspberries is “cap berries.” So called because they fit on the end of your finger like a little cap. Blackberries have a quite different taste and of course won’t go on the end of your finger.
Yum!
MA
July 7, 2008 at 4:07 am
The picture you post is a blackberry plant. Blackberries and black raspberries are different. Black raspberries are smaller, do not have to be really black to be ripe, ripen earlier in the season, are sweeter, have far less vicious thorns, and (most important for easy identification) are hollow, leaving their core on the plant when picked. The fruit in your picture, blackberries, do have to be truly black to be ripe, tend to ripen later in the summer, are much less sweet, have spectacularly nasty thorns (as you have discovered!), and and are, as MA says, not going to fit on your pinky because they aren’t hollow.