Food & Drink

Blackberries

Food & Drink

Posted by: Volcano

20th Feb 2012 11:48am

I love blackberries, and often get annoyed when I remember they are listed as a weed. How can something which is such a noxious weed and produces fruit so easily be so expensive to buy in the shops? Do you think we should make more of this fruit? If it is such a successful plant shouldn't we be selling more of them? I know they can get out of hand, but ... what is your opinion?


Comments 5

edwardio
  • 28th Mar 2012 09:29pm

i also love blackberries and grow in my garden,i dont find it hard to control them and also unsure why we dont grow more.

faerydoc
  • 20th Mar 2012 09:51am

I love blackberries and agree they tend to be very expensive. However, we recently discovered that our backyard had been taken over by blackberry plants, and we have never ever planted berries of any kind - they obviously have migrated into our backyard from someone else's bush (or else from the fields that aren't too far from our house). They are a terrible nuisance to get rid of (yes, I love blackberries, but I can't have the entire garden taken over by them). And that's the problem - they easily seed into other areas and other people's properties, and become a major nuisance and kill off native plants. Perhaps that is why they are expensive to buy - because those farms that produce them have to put a bit of effort into containing them (plus they are a bugger to pick!).

Captain Slog
  • 8th Apr 2012 01:18pm
I love blackberries and agree they tend to be very expensive. However, we recently discovered that our backyard had been taken over by blackberry plants, and we have never ever planted berries of...

Hi Sharon, and Everyone,
Yes, those Blackies really are a bugger to pick, aren't they? Especially when you've soptted a nice BIG juicy one and its in the middle of a mass of thorns and vines. That's part of the challenge in picking them, I reckon! We have to earn them but beating the Blackberrie's defenses. As my sister found out, (TOP entry) when she fell off a log into a huge patch of them. Ha! Good one!
Where do you get yours from? The best and biggest ones ever that we got were in Taupo next to the Geothermal Hot Stream that flowed from the AC Baths down to the waikato River, via The Spa. The Stream flowed along side the road and the Blackies were everywhere and they were HUGE. I haven't been there for years so I don't know if they're still there.
Making you all hungry now, aren't I? Droool, dribble, slurp! BLACKBERRY PIES! OOOOH! YUMMY!

spabath
  • 12th Mar 2012 04:46pm

I, too, like blackberries and can only purchase them in a berry mix from the supermarket freezer. My daughter, who has acreage in Victoria, also considers them a pest. It's a shame they cannot be harvested and sold in our greengrocers throughout Australia. From memory, I think the bush is quite thorny so that could be the reason nobody bothers.

Captain Slog
  • 22nd Feb 2012 08:46pm

Hello Vulcan,
Good to hear someone else who really enjoys good old BLACKBERRIES. Only an idiot would think we're talking about phones.
Yes, I still enjoy picking Blackies and have very fond memories of picking them when I was a kid. Remember chucking a plank onto the bushes and walking onto it, pushing it down to get further in to get the masses of nice big ones just out of reach? Of easing your hand into a small bush, trying not to get pricked to get that one nice BIG Blackie in the middle?
Then of course, getting home with your crop of berries, IF there are any left, that is, and having them made into a nice big fat juicy BLACKBERRY PIE. Or, just simply cooking them up with a bit of sugar, as you would for the Pie, thickening it with Corn Flour, or Arrowroot, and serving it with Custard. YUMMMM!
I remember when my sister and I were picking blackies at Atiamuri, and she fell off this log into a huge patch of them. HA! So does she!
I agree! Its funny how something so Productive can be wasted because there's "No Apparent Money" in it.
You may have given me an idea! I think when the blackberries are ready for picking, I might pick some and sell them. I'll need to pick a lot, though!
By the way, I don't know if you're a Kiwi or not, but, years ago we used to enjoy McWilliam's Blackberry Nip, and bought it by the 1/2 Gallon Flagon. Lovely! It also came in those "Hip Flask" like bottles, too.

Help Caféstudy members by responding to their questions, or ask your own in Café Chat, and you will get the chance of earning extra rewards. Caféstudy will match these and donate equally to our two chosen Australian charities.

AMCS
Australian Marine Conservation Society are an independent charity, staffed by a committed group of scientists, educators and passionate advocates who have defended Australia’s oceans for over 50 years.
Reach Out
ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia. Their trusted self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well. The information they offer parents makes it easier for them to help their teenagers, too.