The Blackberry

Here in the Sierra Foothills blackberries abound. They are everywhere, and the grow like weeds! We cut the one in our yard down every winter and it comes back every year with a vengeance! I ventured out to our blackberry yesterday and found that the fruit was starting to ripen! Wahoo! There is nothing like fresh blackberries to get you going!

Fully loaded canes of blackberries

So, how about some facts on this wonderful fruit?

* The blackberry is actually the same family as the raspberry. The family is “rubus.”
* They are loaded with anthocyanins which give it the dark purple color.
* These berries should not be washed until you are ready to use them as the cell structure breaks down.

Berries up close

* As the bees collect the pollen from the blackberry, the pollen when converted to honey will darken the color of the honey.

Blackberry flower showing fruit developing

* They are high in vitamin A.
* The leaf of this plant was actually used as a hair dye when boiled with lye.
* It is the most cancer fighting berry of all berries.

A beautiful cluster of berries

* The blackberry was used during the US Civil War to fight dysentery.

When picking these berries, pick the darkest colored berries. They will easily pull away from the plant. You can use the berries in a fruit salad or make jam from them!

Another view of what summer is bringing us

One of the funny things here is that with the abundance of these berries, they sell in the grocery store for $3.99 for a 1/4 basket. Granted the berries are bigger than my wild berries, but they are not any sweeter or better. The reason for the high price is due to the time it takes to harvest these berries!

If you visit our neck of the woods, do stop and pick the berries! Get your fingers stained, your mouths stained from eating all those that miss your basket, and take home a bunch of free berries! Ah, life in the Sierra Foothills is good!