At this time of year, there are blackberries to be found all over the place, from the slightly run down corner of the car park in town, in the country park or in the hedgerows around the farm. Food for free. Who can resist?
There’s a certain nostalgia attached to blackberry picking. I always imagine a picture lifted straight from a 1960s Ladybird book with a happy family, wicker basket in hand wandering along a country lane on a sunny autumnal afternoon. Possibly with the prospect of a picnic at the end, complete with red gingham tablecloth and bottles of pop.
The reality of our blackberry is picking is slightly less romantic when Beth and I set out laden with containers to pick blackberries for Beth to make into Blackberry Gin. We lean precariously over ditches, stand on tiptoe to reach high branches and debate the lowest height of a pickable blackberry (answer – no lower than a large dog can cock his leg). Luckily, there’s also an unruly bit of hedge on the garden boundary with just enough blackberries for me to pop out with an enamelled basin and pick for the kitchen.
Blackberries bridge summer and autumn beautifully. Used like any other soft fruit they can be heaped into bowls, piled atop pavlovas or mixed with autumn raspberries to top an autumnal tart or used for making ice cream. On cooler days, blackberry filled crumble, betty or pie sitting in a pool of yellow custard make a warming pudding.
But blackberries aren’t just for eating. Did you know that you can use the stalks and the berries for dyeing yarn and fabric? This hat was knitted with yarn dyed with brambles and blackberries; it’s surprising how many different colours you can get by using different mordants and modifers.
If you’re looking for something different to do with blackberries, perhaps because you’ve already made blackberry jam and had your fill of blackberry crumble and apple and blackberry pie, take a look at this little booklet Making the Most of Blackberries, which has more ideas for using blackberries.
Ah, blackberries are a weed I am (mostly) thankful for here in Australia! They can be very invasive but oh so delicious and I can’t resist a bit of free fruit. The scratches and effort of picking seem to make them taste all the better. That knitted hat is beautiful!
The problem with blackberries it that a small patch soon ends up as a thicket that’s a pain to remove.
I love the blackberry season and it’s been a good year for them here. The best were very early though – end of July, in fact. Your blackberry dyeing is phenomenal! If the rain has not done for those that remain around here it’s tempting to get out a dye pot instead of bottling them or freezing them! Have a good weekend, Anne. E x
Ours were early too and many bushes have only soggy, dull looking fruit left. If you try some contact dyeing, you only need a handful of berries for a small piece of fabric.
I know it’s a bit traditional but blackberry and apple crumble ticks my boxes.
The traditional ones are usually the best Brian.
Hey Anne .. that tart looks particularly delicious! Wish I was visiting 🙂 Such pretty colours in the hat ..
Hello Anne, here I am calling in from my new place on the web…I hope it works! I don’t think I have ever eaten blackberries but they look a lot like mulberries. I wonder if they taste the same? I love your description of the Ladybird happy family. So true. That tart is a work of art!
Mulberries are a lot juicier. Most blackberries are wonderfully plump and juicy but some are hard and seedy (and not very nice).
Love the look of your new place on the web.