Blackberry season is upon us
Riding through Richmond on Saturday, the truth became apparent: the blackberries are here. The same goes for most of the sunnier parts of town. Oh, and while you’re picking them, if you could try to destroy as many of the plants as possible, that would be great.
No, seriously. The delicious berries you see almost everywhere are almost all from the invasive, non-native species commonly known as the himalayan blackberry. There is a native species called the trailing blackberry, but you’ll recognize it most easily by the fact it won’t cut your arms to ribbons with every move.
Regarding the non-native blackberries, discussions of removing them tend to devolve into botanical war stories of unkillable propagating plants that will regenerate at any sign of weakness. In other words, you probably won’t stop the darned things in a permanent way, but you have a nice environmental justification for using maximally aggressive berry-harvesting techniques.
This year I don’t think I’ll attempt blackberry wine (I still have a batch of two-year-old crab apple, um, vinegar that I have to face up to), but jelly is definitely being scheduled. You can make blackberry jam instead, but jelly eliminates the common complaint about the seediness of blackberries.
But personally, I think the best thing is just blackberries straight up, maybe with some milk or cream, maybe over a nice high-fibre cereal, or perhaps with a very light dusting of sugar. Or baked in a pie. Or smeared as overripe berries over good bread, making them into a spontaneous quasi-jam.
I know berries have been discussed ad nauseum here, but first of all, these are free berries, and that is a great price for berries. And second, it appeals to the crazy little boy in me to enthusiastically take a hatchet to these same bushes in the name of environmental correctness.
Kewl post Ryan. Eat blackberries instead of PowerBars. Got it.
Just curious, where in Richmond do you pick these berries?
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, blackberries!!! i can’t wait.
Thanks for the heads up.
Just a general comment, not at all specific to this post, but I can’t believe that none of the Metrobloggers have posted anything on the Steve Nash charity game that took place this weekend.
I guess the 2-time MVP’s homecoming, not to mention the first time the NBA’s been in Vancouver in, oh, about 4-5 years, isn’t a big enough event to post on, eh?
At least not as big as blackberries, of which Metroblogging Vancouver has posted on several times…
Dear Nolan,
Oops. Sorry I missed that. If I was even the slightest bit interested in basketball, I definitely would have posted on it. I’m sure that one of us will get around to it. Um, by the way, nice haircut, Steve. Enjoy your berries.
My favourite place to pick blackberries is down on Westham Island, near the drainage ditches. I’ve found that usually the grosser the ditch, the better the berries, oddly enough.
Re: Nolan.
Sorry I don’t cover basketball (only hockey, soccer and baseball) although I’m sure it was a great event - my coworker went and said it was cool + Bedouin Soundclash played half time.
Oh and the Very Berry Fair was for ALL - not just - blackberries ;P
Nolan: not being a notable b-ball fan, this event barely registered. I blame Jeffery, our resident sports nut.
Man: blackberries are opportunistic edge plants. The dikes and ditches and any place that isn’t domesticated or forested are prime berry areas.
I went out and picked a few berries in Kits, and the pickings were a little early, but some were ripe. I got maybe a pound or two in a couple of hours of casual picking, and that after my pruning shears broke ten minutes in (but I’m convinced that’s going to be a big help in berry picking this year).
The berries in Stanley Park are not really ripe yet. Give it a few days, maybe a week.
Rebecca: blackberries are not the only berry that grows wild in Vancouver, but almost all the others are in quantities too meagre to specifically pick for. For blueberries et al, you will probably have to buy or grow them.
Fair enough. Thanks for addressing my comment, at least.
And though I’m not as big a fan of berries as I am of basketball, I suppose they’re cool, too XD