Blackberries

Moorhen

Has anyone else noticed how large and plentiful the blackberries are this year?
I have been foraging in the East Midlands and have easily picked all that I require. It does disappoint me how few people seem to goes blackberry picking nowadays and how many blackberries are left to rot on the brambles.
What are other peoples experiences?

bexster1975

Hi moorhen

I have picked a huge quantity this past week about 10 yards from my home! I have frozen most for now, until I get time for jamming and compote making. The rest are in the fridge for breakfasts, desserts or just snacking on!

Bexster

Bykerlass

I pick them every year and yes they are plentiful. I have picked a few but lots are still not ripe yet.

Gers

I was just thinking about blackberries a few minutes ago - so am every so slightly spooked now!

My back garden thornless bush is being slow to have ripe fruit. I can pick and eat about two a day. Outside the hedgerow wild plants will be more generous soon. We're much further north and the spring / summer has been very wet and windy so the fruit is being slow to ripen.

Even the wild raspberries out front have been mean this year. Happily the even wilder bushes at the back of my garden have been more generous.

Don't think I'll get any significant fruit from my one bush, perhaps next year?

Charly27

The blackberries in Norfok are huge, ripe and sweet this year. I need to go and pick. When you freeze them do you just pop them in a bag or do you do that thing on a baking tray? Tips appreciated as I can't leave them!

bexster1975

Hi Charly

Don't know about everyone else but I pop them in a freezer bag and straight in the deep freeze. I expect it depends what you want to do with them. I use them for jam etc so doesn't matter if they are used straight from frozen or go a bit mushy following defrost

Bexster

Moorhen

i always freeze them individually on a baking tray, then it is easy to get as many as you want out of the freezer.

theoretica

Spread them out on a baking tray on top of a non stick liner. When frozen put the whole tray into a large bag and remove tray and liner, then scrunch up bag opening and pour into tub or smaller freezer bag. I used to try to pour them off the tray or move them with the fish slice, but this way I don't end up with frozen berries making a bit for freedom.

usernameisvalid

I'm hoping we do have good blackberries this year. It's been a warm wet summer here, very little sunshine but warm and wet

We had a good crop of wild raspberries this year, still picking them a week past. We had no strawberries and I've not seen damsons yet.

Last 'winter' there were very few sloes either

So fingers crossed for the blackberries

Charly27

Thanks to theoretica, Moorhen and bexster1975 for your freezing suggestions. I think I need to decide what I'm going to do with them first as if I'm going to jam or jelly it doesn't matter if they lose shape a little. I've not done well for strawberries on my allotment, they were the first year and I don't think I watered enough! Raspberries coming out of my ears up there and DH will eat raspberry jam so could have a jam sesh. No sloes so far near us, we haven't had a great crop of those for a couple of years:( Must be able to make blackberry gin? I found a lovely recipe for a blackberry cheesecake online. I think it was either gluten or dairy free which would be great as I could take it into work for my BD.

Dclutterchique

Moorhen wrote: »

i always freeze them individually on a baking tray, then it is easy to get as many as you want out of the freezer.

I agree with doing the Individual Quick Freeze (IQF) method before bagging/boxing up for storage as it keeps the berries loose and you can then measure out just what you want when you want. Nothing more infuriating than only wanting 100g and finding a 1kg 'lolly' in the freezer. As well as baking trays, old ice cream tubs and ready meal containers also work. Basically anything flattish, open and freezable.

My thornless blackberries are cropping at a nice steady rate and producing big, plump fruits that are almost wine scented (although I think they might be 'Oregon Giant' so they should be big. ) I've picked and frozen some elderberries (even with IQF they still tend to clump together). I'm going to try my luck with a spot of Bullace hunting to make up for the council cutting down the local Damson tree and hacking back the two Mirabelle trees so they never quite recovered.:(