Tuesday, September 23, 2008

i-pick blackberries.

here's an upside to being unemployed! you can go berry picking on a tuesday. no crowds, and the crop has had a few days to ripen since the weekend. i went out looking for raspberries, but stumbled on a much heartier blackberry crop. ended up with probably 4-5 pounds of blackberries and a couple pints of raspberries. it was the last week for the last variety of raspberries, at this farm at least, so willamette valley raspberry-lovers take note.
blackberry picking is not a camera-friendly enterprise. a few pints in, and your fingers are covered in dark red-purple berry juice.

so, trust me, i got a lot more than this:

...but what to do with all of them? i got some canning equipment from my mom the other day, and i'd love to preserve some that way. i'll definitely make some more fruit leather. blackberry-infused vodka? the sky's the limit! within a budget, of course.

blackberry syrup?

ideas?

5 comments:

dz said...

OOOH I am so excited for you. There is an adorable little blackberry farm across the Missouri-Kansas border about 40 min from my parents' house. "Cy & Dee's Blackberry Patch." I have great memories of picking blackberries and evading bees...cramming my mouth full of juicy berries all the while. The cutest thing was that they n the honor system, leaving people to do what they wawantnted. They leave their barn open with a little cashbox and a sign that says "We take cash, check, or IOU."

Anyway, of course you should make JAM. And the fruit leather and blackberry syrup ideas sound awesome.

My ma also tends to just freeze a lot of the berries she picks because they retain their fresh qualities the best. She lays them out flat to freeze, then packages them in freezer bags. Then she just thaws them by the handful for plopping in yogurt--a pretty good system.

Thanks for visiting my blog. As you can see, I'm a little overenthusiastic. I just started so every new comment is like the best thing that happened to me. Please do try the crackers, they are really easy aside from that damn dough being so keen on returning to its original shape as I rolled it.

Frisky said...

thanks for the input! man, do i wish i could freeze them, but i have this weird freeze compartment instead of an actual freezer...so that's not in the cards, unless i kept them in my neighbor's freezer.

hmm. which might not be the worst idea.

JohnH said...

We made blackberry jam last year, and we're getting close to our last jar. You'll never be sad to have home-canned jam.

Anonymous said...

I would love to have your fruit leather recipe! Welcome back to town and look forward to coffee sometime!

Frisky said...

fruit leather recipe is forthcoming - i made another batch this weekend, and am working out the kinks. the "trials" are pretty tasty, still!