blackberry picking

ocemeer

6lb blackberries (8oz)
5lb sugar (4oz)
3 pints vinegar (1/2 pint)

crush blackberries slighty and place in a bowl with vinegar for a week.
strain through musilm (tights will do)
gently stir the sugar in and simmer for 15-20 mins then bottle.

Recipe says dilute to taste in water as a refreshing drink have yet to try it that way.

Screwtop wine bottles work fantastically for this.

the large quantities are due to it being an old recipe book (well she is 93!)

Karb

To do crumble, can i get away with using ordinary granulated sugar, or does it have to be demerara?

I'm trying to use up the food in the cupboard, because I'm moving house soon, and dont really want to have to go out and buy a bag of demerara, when I've got loads of granulated

thriftlady_2

Karb, just use whatever sugar you've got (except icing sugar);)

Pink.

Hi,

I'm making an apple and blackberry pie......but I have some raspberries to use up. Does anyone know if it would it ruin the taste of the pie if I threw them in too?

Pink

Dobie

There are masses & masses near where I live in Leicestershire but I think we should have another couple of weeks of picking.
We got a bowlful last weekend & I've been chucking a handful into my morning juice - YUM. This week we got a lot more & DH has started some blackberry brandy that will be ready for Christmas - it smells lovely already. I have a load more for my juice & the rest are destined for blackberry muffins.
Someone I work with came in with over 5lbs of Victoria plums from his tree today. I've washed, halved & stoned them & popped some in the fridge (for juice of course) & the rest I've frozen. I thought I might have a go at plum jam with some of them. I've never made jam before but I fancy having a go & if it turns out OK I'll put some in pretty jars as part of my parents & in-laws Christmas pressies. They were amazingly impressed when I took them a home made loaf so I'll have zillions of brownie points if I take the jam as well!
Don't you just love free food?

Karb

thriftlady wrote:

Karb, just use whatever sugar you've got (except icing sugar);)

Thanks thriftlady. Used granulated and it turned out just perfect.

Also found a jar of apple sauce at the back of the cupboard, so that went in as well. Lovely.

Zziggi

Help! I'm drowing in brambles and apples.

Another 8lb (to add to about 12lb i already got bagged-up in the freezer) and 10 carrier bags FULL of apples (Fillinghams and bramleys). I keep trying to give them away and nobody will take them!!! Nobody seems to want to peel and cook them I wish you MSEr lived closer - they'd be gone in a flash...

Yet another evening sat in front of the TV peeling apples with DH!!

P.S. How do you make a bramble & apple pie without getting soggy pastry at the bottom please?

Austin_Allegro

I have a big bramble bush at the bottom of my garden which supplies all my blackberry requirements, so I don't have to wander along the railway line....

A very simple pudding which is delicious is blackberries sprinkled with sugar then mixed with creme fraiche, or with custard.

If the blackberries are not very sweet but you don't want to use too much sugar, then you can use bicarbonate of soda to neutralise the taste.

thriftlady_2

I've got one at the bottom of my garden too. It's a cultivated one, thornless and with huge fruit. But, it's been rubbish this year, the berries aren't forming properly and the yield is very poor. I've managed about half a freezer bag full so far. Normally by this time I'd have at least 2 bulging bags in the freezer.

Anyone know what's up with my blackberry ?:(

Austin_Allegro

thriftlady wrote:

I've got one at the bottom of my garden too. It's a cultivated one, thornless and with huge fruit. But, it's been rubbish this year, the berries aren't forming properly and the yield is very poor. I've managed about half a freezer bag full so far. Normally by this time I'd have at least 2 bulging bags in the freezer.

Anyone know what's up with my blackberry ?:(

I've heard this from my mother as well - I think it's probably to do with the drought and hot weather in July - seem to recall blackberries swell up a lot in the rain and are easier to pick. There are a lot of dead/shrivelled or aborted berries on my bramblepatch.