Blackberries

Cordial is delicious! And I've only had the cloudy squeezings from the 2nd boiling of the berries. Sweet, sharp and dry.

I'm currently making the elderberry cordial. Such a tiny amount, hardly seems worth it. But I'm seeing it as a trial run for a bigger batch when the elderberry patch I'm eyeing up is ripe.

How do you make fresh fruit pastilles grannyactivist? I'd love to make healthy sweets for DGS.

Fresh fruit pastilles made with blackberry juice are a firm favourite with my grandchildren, but my family also crave bramble jelly and my husband loves a blackberry and apple crumble. It’s fortunate that my bushes are flourishing as I need so many in order to meet the demand. ?

I picked some a couple of weeks ago, they were big and lovely. Went back today, no rain has meant what’s left is small, hard berries.

I made four pots of blackberry jam today, I also added the juice of a lemon it set really nicely not too firm I need to go pick some more. Anyone made rhubarb jam/jelly? Fancy giving it a try.

Picked a few elderberries today. Not many, but it's the first time I'll have tried cooking with them so that's OK. I have no idea what they taste like.

I also found another, seemingly unknown, stash of blackberries (rubs hands in glee). I'm making blackberry cordial with them.

Gagajo pick the clusters of berries that are truly ripe - black in other words. They are a pain in the u no where to prep, stripping all the berries off the stems with a fork is boring and time consuming, and then separating out all the red/green ones that you might have missed (and the stems are toxic). I only cook them and use them for cordial these days which, with ginger and cloves added is a lovely warming winter drink and very good for you - we gave up making wine. You can buy dried elderberries but they are quite pricey.

Went to 'my' blackberry patch today. Must have picked at least a kilo, if not more. I took GS with me but the briars were quite wild and a bit too much for him.

I think I've seen some elderberries too. How do you harvest/cook them? They're tiny aren't they?

Friend and I went blackberry picking yesterday (South Oxfordshire) and all the bushes we went to had been pretty well picked out, so the berries were out earlier than last year. I will be using my harvest to make a demi-john of blackberry wine :-)

Gangstergranny hope I’m not too late for your jam making. A tip I heard on my local radio is to use instead of using equal quantities of fruit and sugar he said to use 3/4 sugar. Apparently it gives a better set and isn’t as sweet but doesn’t last as long. As I find hm jam too sweet so I tried it and it worked a treat. I also add a squeeze of lemon juice and put the piece of lemon in the pan whilst cooking and mash the fruit a little ( not to a pulp) before simmering.
Can’t decide whether to make more today or blackberry flapjacks in readiness for DGS visit on Wednesday.

The flipping pigeons have eaten all our elderberries this year. We have a big bush that flowered really well and there should have been masses of berries. I couldn't work out where they were going until I saw a couple of pigeons hopping from branch to branch

gangstergranny

I've promised to make my husband some blackberry jam this year....never made it before have any of you 'jam makers' any good hints or tips to help me please?

TIA

As far as I remember, it does set quite well but I usually add some lemon juice to help with setting.
I prefer bramble jelly now, no pips, although we do eat blackberries usually with apple.

The birds always get to the elderberries before we do.

I walked to the vets with my grandson this morning (and the dog in case you were wondering) and there were lots of quite small, but perfectly ripe blackberries for the picking all along the footpath. They’re much smaller than my cultivated ones and the first one appeared to be very sour, but it didn’t stop the four-year old from munching away at them.

The bushes on my allotment have huge juicy ripe berries growing alongside tiny, hard, green underripe ones.

Blackberries for Blackberry and Apple Crumble, that never gets refused. Also pick lots of Sloes for Sloe Gin, super Christmas presents, hic!.

We are currently keeping a watching brief on the elderberries too. We made elderberry cordial last year - a lovely hot pick me up on a cold day. If you buy it in the shops, it’s very expensive. Very cheap to make at home. We are careful to leave enough for the birds though, if they haven’t got there first!?

I have several bags of blackberries (along with a few of the late summer fruiting raspberries) in the freezer and we’ve already had two summer puddings and a blackberry crumble, but the main bushes are just ripening now, so we’re going to have another bumper crop this year.

We have a lot of blackberry bushes around us and so far this year we have picked four and a half pounds of good sized fruit, and there are a lot more just coming ripe. It’s a good year. I also soak them in salt water, drain them on a tea towel, open freeze them on trays and store them in freezer bags. I made jam last year - it was a disaster (my fault) and a complete waste of the fruit, so this year they’ll be used for pies and crumbles.

A lovely development to my blackberry picking this year. My 3 year old grandson also loves foraging for anything edible in the wild. We've found blackberries, wild raspberries and also a few red currants.

He loves going blackberry picking with me and always comes home looking like a mini vampire, with his stained mouth. Even when he can't reach them, he's happy to hold the tub for me, and eats the ones he likes the look of.

We picked 2 boxes at the park today. I've just had some, stewed, with Greek yoghurt. Delicious!

I do that too Liz46 I’ve managed to pick a couple of boxes so far some are really ready and some still green. Love blackberries, my GD always eats some straight out of the freezer.

I remember that I used to pick blackberries but always put them in salted water so that the maggots came out.

I told my aunt and she said not to bother - extra protein!

I see masses on my usual walk in a leafy part of SW London, but almost all are still hard and green.

I just picked first blackberries along with the last black currants simmered with some sugar. Put them through a sieve and in a sterilised jar I have the syrup on ice cream or pancakes. Mix it with vodka or gin for my spirit drinking friends as gifts. I like it mixed in carbonated water or plain cider.

I've promised to make my husband some blackberry jam this year....never made it before have any of you 'jam makers' any good hints or tips to help me please?

TIA

Blackberry crumble, yum!

pinkwallpaper

Gagarin
No do not sieve seeds. Afraid it would never cross my mind but then I am happy to eat grape pips despite being told I’ll have a grapevine growing in my insides!

I prefer bramble jelly and blackcurrant jelly to jam but was told the other day that the pips are good for us.

Gagarin
No do not sieve seeds. Afraid it would never cross my mind but then I am happy to eat grape pips despite being told I’ll have a grapevine growing in my insides!