Blackberry bugs

Wellyboots6

I picked a huge bag full of blackberries from the hedgerows today.
Left them in a bowl in the kitchen this afternoon and a couple of hours later noticed lots of little maggots on them. Tiny ones.

Any ideas how to get rid?

Fruball

I think you are supposed to cover them with very salty water and leave for an hour or so but to be honest, if there were that many maggots, I would be worried about them being full of eggs so I wouldn't eat them!

_pale_

Wellyboots6

Not hundreds, a few very tiny ones.
I figure if I make jam or something then the high temperature would kill anything anyway.
I suppose its probably healthier for you anyway than supermarket stuff as that is blasted with chemicals and radiation to kill any bugs, just slightly more gross!

Fruball

katy721 wrote: »

Not hundreds, a few very tiny ones.
I figure if I make jam or something then the high temperature would kill anything anyway.
I suppose its probably healthier for you anyway than supermarket stuff as that is blasted with chemicals and radiation to kill any bugs, just slightly more gross!

Yep - making jam would kill them off. A bit of extra protein in the jam too! Winner!

Soak them in the salt water first though

marleyboy

katy721 wrote: »

I picked a huge bag full of blackberries from the hedgerows today.
Left them in a bowl in the kitchen this afternoon and a couple of hours later noticed lots of little maggots on them. Tiny ones.

Any ideas how to get rid?

Place in a plastic bag. Carefully lift dustbin lid. Place bag into dustbin and close the lid.

rosalie-lavender

I soak wild blackberries in salty water for a couple of hours. Rinse well afterwards to get rid of the salty taste. It draws the bugs out of the fruit.

Seakay

And no need to worry about eggs as these are laid by adults and what you have is lavae!

-taff

You can aslo add a good dash of vinegar instead of salt to the water

datlex

I thought bugs were to be expected with fruit. The reason we don't have them in shop bought is someone has already de-bugged them!

Nocturnes

Thanks for starting this thread, it reminded me to go out and pick some blackberries! OH and I picked 5kgs this morning. I just soaked them in cold water for 10 mins, a few wrigglies floated to the top, scooped them out, drained, and then made lots of jam, froze some berries and am about to make a blackberry crumble. They're definitely ready for picking this weekend! (I guess depends on location)

sKiTz-0

Where in the country are you? I'm in Greater Manchester and was wondering if the coming bank holiday weekend would be around the right time to go out foraging for blackberries? It's worth a look I suppose, even if there aren't any the fresh air and exercise will be good.