There are few activities more wonderful than blackberrying. It includes the delights of wandering about in nature, a foodie treasure hunt and the gratification of a sweet reward. The fact that these purple delicacies must be reached at a cost: scratched arms, attacks by stinging nettles, and dodgy footing (I once slipped into a mass of bushes and had to be hauled out) makes them more rather than less appealing. After all, no-one waxes lyrical about picking up a punnet of strawberries at the supermarket.
Like all true pleasures, it is transitory. If we delay, we must wait another year. My blackberry obsession starts around the beginning of August when I note those places where unripe blackberries are starting to appear. Sadly, these spots are often by busy roadsides and therefore not ideal, but I know that blackberrying elsewhere will soon be on the agenda.
Never mind the weather
With the very long, hot spell this summer, I didn’t hold out much hope for this year’s harvest. All fruits need plenty of water to plump and thrive and none more than the humble blackberry. Yet somehow, now they are more abundant and juicy than ever.
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
From plant to palate
Much is made of the farm to table movement (which I applaud) but we needn’t go to a fancy restaurant to eat food that is grown organically and recently picked. We need only go to a local, unspoilt area.
I found an amazing clump at the puppy park and was joyfully eating and collecting them under the watchful gaze of a young lad staring out his window. Perhaps the sight of anyone eating anything that didn’t come from a shop bemused him. I waved hello and he smiled and disappeared back into his room.
Similarly, my husband and I were guzzling blackberries on the way home one day when a child, who went to do the same, was told off by his mother. ‘Don’t eat them; they’re dirty!’ she exclaimed. The child pulled back, chastised and went home, no doubt, to foods intensively doused with pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals.
When we miss the opportunity to show children how their food grows and to introduce them to the abundance of wild foods on offer, for free, we disempower them. When we distance ourselves so absolutely from the natural world, we should not be surprised that so few are willing to take steps to protect it.
Fortunately, on our berry expedition to Alfriston on Sunday, there was a young family introducing their children to the delights of blackberrying and the sight of it made me very glad indeed.
Some for now; some for later
Once home with our bounty, we needed to find ways to eat them. Since I had some meringues left over from the party, I decided to make mini-pavlovas for my friends. The blackberries provided a striking finishing touch.
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
The rest were added to my cooked apples from the garden and frozen. Wonderful though blackberries are, they have a terribly short shelf-life.
While we were in Alfriston, we noticed that several of the bushes were a week or so away from ripening, so we shall have to make another trip. As for the harvest, I am thinking up all sorts of ways of using them for autumnal treats: jams, pancakes, in yogurt etc. I would like to try drying them like raisins. Who knows? It might work.
But I don’t have long. Probably two weeks at most. So kitted out with my least presentable clothes and ready for purple stained hands, I shall have to get a move on. I hope you will join me.