BERRIES!

[bunn]

I picked some rowan berries last week, which are now in the freezer, becoming milder and more edible in flavour before undergoing transformation into rowan jelly.  There seems to be a bit of a shortage of crabapples this year - most of my favorite crab trees are completely fruitless.   I think this must be down to the dampness of the spring, though

Comments

[lindahoyland]

I love gathering blackberries!

[bunn]

There's that feeling of triumph when you spot the perfect berry half-hidden under a leaf, and the feeling of achievement as you go home all scratched with your box of black-purple booty! Plus, free food!

[wellinghall]

I remember adaese's Californian cousin's surprise, ?ten years ago, when adaese made a blackberry tart with wild blackberries.

[wellinghall]

Thank you for the blackberry warning - we shall get out there soon!

[chainmailmaiden]

Our fruit crop has been a disaster this year, we only had 6 morello cherries set, hardly any strawberries & most of the rasps have gone mildewy before getting ripe :-( The best crops are going to be the rosehips & the elderberries. I am pleased though that my new, very young apple tree set 2 apples, & the cobnut has reached double figures for the number of nuts produced :-) Since the Hawthorn hedge has fruited too, I may make hedgerow pie :-)

[wellinghall]

Blueberries: none.

Whitecurrants: a handful.

Raspberries: loads. We didn't even know we had raspberries when we moved in!

[bunn]

My rasps have done OK and I had a fair number of strawbs in the greenhouse: the outdoor strawbs did not much, but I think the birds beat me to them!

[wellinghall]

Ah, yes, strawberries. We had very few of those, too ... but that is mainly due to Foghorn and Ceridwen.

[carmarthen]

I'd guess the flies are specialized (although perhaps to a few different kinds of plants); most insects tend to be fairly specific about where they lay their eggs.

...and urgh, I have never encountered blackberry-maggots and now I feel slightly queasy at the prospect.

[wellinghall]

Me too. I had better stop reading, I think!

[bunn]

Very important when blackberry picking, that little rollover you give each berry after you pull it off the stem, to check that the white bit in the middle hasn't gone maggoty!

I do know people who argue that the maggot is only made of blackberry anyway and they aren't noticeable once cooked. To which : EW. :-D

[wellinghall]

Quite!