blackberry picking

Gigervamp

Barneysmom wrote: »

Chuffed today though, found some raspberry bushes too, hiding like robbers behind some big weeds

How lucky! Funnily enough, I was just reading a blackberries thread on the downsizer forum and someone mentions that adding wild raspberries really improves the flavour of blackberry jam.

klare_2

MY jam worked !!!! woooooooooooooo hhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooo

...i am soooo chuffed and over the moon! followed the recipe for my mum in laws apple and bramble and jelly but then where it said to strain of liquid thru a jelly cloth ( muslin i believe or similar), i decided i wanted something with a bit more texture to it than that, so i pushed half of it thru a cullinder and the other half thru a sieve.... the result is a jam that looks a little darker than a raspberry jam, has enough seeds in it to make it feel 'real' but not so many to hamper your enjoyment of eating and I am just chuffed chuffed chuffed!!!!
I dont even EAT jam but i will be hving it on my toast this morning ....i got about 3 pints of fruit stuff to add the 3 lbs of sugar to and have ended up with just over 6 pots of jam ( have put it into standard honey sized jars kindly donated by mum in law)... my boys went out and picked another couple of pounds of blackberrys yesterday so i will be at it tonight as well!!
Also need to go and find some smaller corks... got hold of some alcopop bottles to eventually decant the blackberry gin into and have been told that wilko's sell smaller corks or tops.... god! this is so exciting! I wasnt this excited when i got my distinction on my professional qualification!
Hope everyone elses fruit efforts are going well... on Sunday I am going to have a pop at the Artisan bread too.. soooo many things to do and just not enough hours ( out of work that is!)

Gigervamp

Congratulations! It's a great feeling isn't it? This year I made my first ever marmalade and jam and they taste delicious!

floyd

I am looking forward to getting some blackberries from FIL for making bramble jelly. MIL brought over a HM apple and blackberry pie yesterday so I enquired about soaking the berries in salt/vinegar solution overnight and which she chooses to do......the answer was neither, she washes them briefly under the tap _pale_
I couldn't bear the thought of eating it so gave it OH and my mum, does that make me a bad person if they knew about the possibility of maggots?

I will feel so bad if the blackberries from FIL's plot are frozen because I will know there is no way to get the bugs out as they are dead but won't want to waste them either

juliejim

Picked a load of blackberries yesterday which are sitting in water at the moment but I'm now wondering whether to soak them again with some salt or vinegar in the water!

Going to make some blackberry and apple crumbles with them but I quite fancy trying the blackberry ice-cream as well although I've never tried making anything like that so I don't know how it'll turn out. Is it easy?

Barneysmom - I'm in Staffs as well (Stoke-on-Trent) so if you need a taster just say the word!;)

2cats1kid

I'd have thought sitting in water would be fine, juliejim. I think the vinegar and salt is just to make the environment even more unpleasant for them.

Like I said last night, a couple of weeks ago I picked a box and there were loads of maggots in, but the ones I checked yesterday had none. So anyone worrying about frozen or unsoaked berries should maybe just assume there were none in theirs to start with or make jelly rather than jam as at least then you only use the juice!

2cats1kid

Oh and I made the blackberry yogurt icecream yesterday. It should be set by now, so we'll probably have some for dinner tonight. It was pretty easy - DD helped and could probably now make it herself under supervision - and it came out a glorious colour.

Barneysmom

juliejim wrote: »

Picked a load of blackberries yesterday which are sitting in water at the moment but I'm now wondering whether to soak them again with some salt or vinegar in the water!

Going to make some blackberry and apple crumbles with them but I quite fancy trying the blackberry ice-cream as well although I've never tried making anything like that so I don't know how it'll turn out. Is it easy?

Barneysmom - I'm in Staffs as well (Stoke-on-Trent) so if you need a taster just say the word!;)

And me, Burslem, by Stansfields?



I've just done my second batch and it's delicious, the texture is perfect, it's all dark and juicy :j :j
I've got the bread cooking in the breadmaker, and when it comes out I'll have a piece for my supper!

I'm so chufftied!

juliejim

Barneysmom - I'm just down the road in Tunstall!

klare_2

2nd batch half way through the process now.. just going for bramble this time not bramble and apple.. ate my jam with my fresh bread this morning ( does 5 in the morning count as the morning or middle of the night?)..delish! just hoping i can leave it alone now for when the kids get up! will be out again on sunday to get some more... then its onto the blackberry gin ( making it that is not drinking it!)