Blackberries
What is it?
We grow three different varieties of blackberry. The earliest are the Prime Ark Freedom floricane berries, followed by Natchez and Ouachita. The last berries of the season are the primocane berries on the Prime Ark Freedoms. Each variety has a slightly different texture and flavor — we like them all.
When picking blackberries, you only want to pick the ones that are fully black and plump. Blackberries start green, then turn raspberry colored as they ripen, finally ending up fully black when they are ready to pick. Those are the ones to look for. Unripe berries will be sour.
Blackberries are loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants and fiber. They are truly a super food.
How do I clean and store it?
If it was hot outside while you were picking, keep the bag with your berries open to vent some of the heat on the way home — do not tie it closed.
When you get home, gently dump them into a bowl and submerge them in cool tap water for about five minutes. Give them a good swish with your hands, drain, and spread them on a towel to dry on the counter. Once they are fully dry, store them in a container with the lid slightly askew in the fridge.
To freeze them, do all of the above and get them cold in the fridge first. When they are nice and cold, spread them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. Once frozen, pour them into a zip top bag and take out a few or a bunch at a time.
Recipes
Just put them in your face. If you want to get more creative than that:
- Sprinkle them on Greek yogurt with slivered almonds for breakfast
- Freeze and drop them into sparkling wine
- Betty Crocker’s Blackberry Cobbler
Oh no, we picked fourteen pounds of blackberries
Freezing them with the method above works great to keep you in blackberries all winter long. If you want to do more:
- Blackberry Freezer Jam
- Blackberry Pie Filling, if you want to bust out the water bath canner
- This is the Cook’s Country pie dough I make to use with the canned filling