Blackberry Picking

When I was walking near our house the other day, I noticed a long hedge almost entirely covered with blackberries and sloes. I have made sloe gin before but didn't like it, but I have been back and picked a fair few blackberries this morning.

It is very satisying finding food for free, and may have been even better had my Dad visited with some bramley apples from his orchard, unfortunately we had to buy ours from Waitrose. 

Be careful if you are out picking as the thorns are sharp and the berries stain your hands and clothes. Also, try not to pick them below knee height if you know (or think) that dogs are walked by the hedge! Apparently they are best picked in August & September even though I always associate it with an Autumn thing: as folklore says that after October 10th, the devil wees on the berries and they become unfit to eat! I also read that during the first world war, school children were given time off to pick blackberries to be made into juice for the soldiers.

Blackberries are a good (and free) source of vitamin C as have the bramley apples!

Well, I was going to finish this post with a photo of the crumble in a bowl, but it looks like I have been too slow, but my boys gave it a rating of 10/10, and I still have some blackberries left for tomorrow. EDIT: managed to grab a quick picture of today's crumble before my boys could start digging in, and it was really yummy!