What are blackberries? About the ingredient blackberries. Including 70 recipes with blackberries, nutrition data, and where to find it.
The blackberry is an oblong, conical fruit composed of many small fruits called drupelets. Blackberries are also called brambles, since they are the fruit of various brambles of the Flubus genus.
When the ripe fruit is picked, the stem or receptacle holding it remains part of the shrub. Ripe blackberries are a lustrous purple-black in color. As for the unripened fruit, what seems like a paradox puts it this way: blackberries are red when they
are green. They may be wild or cultivated.
They are one of the finest and most abundant wild crops of America and well worth gathering. They have long been popular in England where until recently, every farmer’s wife went “blackberrying” in September, to turn her crop into puddings, pies, jams, and even homemade wine.
Blackberries and their close relative, dewberries, can be used in dozens of ways. They are delicious as fresh fruit with sugar and cream, they make fine jams and jellies, and their juice, squeezed from the raw crushed berries, tastes wonderfully good when mixed in equal quantities with lemonade.
Blackberry wine and cordial used to be a precious homemade drink and the pride of a housewife. Blackberries and apples, stewed separately and then mixed, or baked together into a deep-dish pie are a particularly delightful combination.
Season is in May, June, July and August with a peak season in June. Major sources in the US are New Jersey and California. Canned blackberries are also available.
Select berries that are bright, fresh, plump, well shaped and solid in color. The should be free of dirt and moisture with no adhering caps; caps may indicate immature fruit.
Avoid shriveled, wet, or leaky berries. A stained container often indicate overripe or damaged berries.
Sold by ½ pint, pint and quart.
1 pint = 2 cups
Sort berries and keep them in the refrigerator. Do not cover and wash. Use as soon as possible.
Fresh, refrigerator shelf: 1 to 2 days
Fresh, refrigerator-freezer, prepared for freezing: 1 month
Fresh, deep freezer, prepared for freezing: 9 to 12 months
Canned, kitchen shelf: 1 year
Canned, refrigerator shelf, opened and covered: 1 to 2 days
Wash berries just before they are to be used. Run water over the berries gently, do not allow the fruit to soak in water.
Sprinkle with sugar and serve plain or with ice cream. Add to fruit cups and salads. Use in puddings, gelatin dishes, pies, tarts, jams and sherbets.
Wash berries in cold water; use hands to lift berries out of the water to avoid crushing. Pack berries in a sugar syrup (3 cups sugar to 4 cups water), or dry pack without sugar, or pack them in sugar, adding ¾ cup of sugar for every 4 cups of berries. Freeze with ½ inch of head-space in the container.
Blackberries are usually found in the fruit section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.
Blackberries are a member of the Fruits and Fruit Juices USDA nutritional food group.
|British (UK) term:||Blackberries|
There are 73 recipes that contain this ingredient.
|Usda nutrition data||about 3 years ago|
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