Blackberry Season
Image © Alexandra O’Toole
Late August, the lanes around April Cottage are bursting with blackberries. We spend hours picking ‘black gold’.
The area surrounding the southern shores of Lake Windermere is a landscape I’ve come to love dearly. It’s where the expansive view of the lake and mountains beyond give way to gentle, green fields and narrow lanes flanked with trees, ferns and tooth-leafed bushes brimming with wild blackberries.
In the Spring, the quiet lanes of Staveley-in-Cartmel are flush with hawthorn blossom and petticoated with cowparsley, but as the Summer sparks and fades into late August, the hedgerows, tangled with fat, dark berries, become ripe for picking.
“Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries,”
Foraging for blackberries is a very British activity and has long been a favourite summer pursuit for our family. If you would like to join the hunt for ‘black gold’ this August / September, here are ten tips for picking and eating wild blackberries, safely.
1. Before you go, make sure you bring a container or two, or three. Blackberry picking brings out competitive spirits. Avoid arguments at the outset by providing each ‘picker’ with their own tub.
2. Avoid bushes by busy roads and any fruit that's low enough to be ‘watered’ by passing dogs.
3. Even on quiet lanes such as those around April Cottage, avoid the berries at the bottom of the bush and aim to pick the blackberries higher up.
4. Only pick the fully black coloured berries. Leave the red/pink berries on the bush to ripen.
5. Don’t squeeze them too hard. If they are ripe, they will pull free from the plant with only a slight tug.
6. Never pick wet blackberries as this will encourage them to mould. For the same reason DON'T wash the berries until you are ready to use them or freeze them. Washing makes them more prone to spoiling.
7. When you are ready to use them (within 24 hours), wash well with cold water and leave to soak with a little salt to kill any bugs. Make sure all the ‘pickers’, wash their hands too.
8. Fresh blackberries will last a day or two, but blackberries ripen quickly – losing flavour and condition, so if you have a glut to use up it is worth freezing.
9. If freezing, wash the blackberries and set aside to dry before spreading in single layers in a container and transferring to the freezer to keep for a later date. Blackberries freeze well and can be used throughout winter in crumbles and pies. Freezing them will also help kill any bugs.
10. Alternatively, you can stew with a little sugar and puree, again freezing the liquid in ice cube trays or bags or keeping in the fridge.
There are so many delicious things to cook and make with your blackberries. If you like to keep it simple, sprinkle a few on your morning cereal. I like to add a couple to a glass of gin and tonic. But after a big haul, I’ll make a crumble.
Image © Alexandra O’Toole
Alex’s Apple and Blackberry Crumble
Ingredients
· 50g butter
· 50g oats
· 50g plain white flour
· 50g caster sugar
· 300g cooking apples
· 200g Blackberries washed and drained
· Cinnamon, ginger and allspice to taste
Method
· STEP 1
Peel, core and dice the apples.
· STEP 2
Arrange with the blackberries into the base of a medium-sized ovenproof dish. If you prefer a sweeter crumble, sprinkle the fruit with a little sugar.
· STEP 3
In a large bowl, using your fingertips, mix the sugar, oats, flour, spices, and butter until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour.
· STEP 4
Spread the topping over the fruit evenly, making sure all the fruit is covered.
· STEP 5
Bake at 180°C for about 45 mins, or until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling up. Serve with pouring cream or vanilla or clotted cream ice cream.