Hunting for Berries!

We're already into the rainy season here in the Willamette Valley, it seems. But before the rains moved in, we pounced on a delightful and noxious late Summer harvest.

Blackberries!


Sure, you can plant blackberries in your garden, but those cultivated and thornless types just don't have the proper zing I look for in a decent berry. It may be hard for some to believe, but blackberries are quite the nasty weed here in the valley. There isn't much one can do to remove them once they've shown up, spare a few goats to keep them nibbled down (plans for the future!). If left to go out of control, the berries get a bit hard to reach without ripping your skin and clothes to shreds. All the more adventure, i say! You can find blackberries along almost any roadside/ bike path and river, but i prefer to pick berries without the dust and grime from car exhaust. We hit up one of the fields at the farm my husband works at and got plenty of berries to do all sorts of fun things with. Including eating on the spot!

This post is part of the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop

Success? Failure? I can't tell

It's blackberry season around here. On the roadsides. By the sidewalks. In people's yards. Along the rivers. Everywhere you go: blackberries by the poundful! Just waiting to be picked by crows or passersby willing to get a few finger pricks in exchange for some delicious (and free!) fruit. My husband and i have done just that and we now have a few freezer bags full of the berries, ready to be made into pie or crisp when the weather gets a little cooler, and i also did an experiment with a quartful.

I love my favorite cookbook, Nourishing Traditions - but alas it is packed somewhere far away. So, i looked to gnowfglins.com for some ideas. I wanted to try some kind of fermenting for this fruit, and Wardeh gave me a great sounding recipe. I tried it out, and i have no idea if i did it right. The recipe calls for fruit, natural sweetener (i used honey), no sugar needed pectin (optional), and whey. Mush it all together and put it in your favorite fermenting crock, or mason jar and let ferment for 2 days then refrigerate.

Mushed, jarred, ready for action!

After two days, I didn't perceive that any fermentation had even started. No bubbling. No fizzing. Nothing. So i left the crocks out for the normal amount of fermenting time: a week or so. I sure got some bubbling and fizzing! But I'm afraid i may have just started the process of wine making. My resultant jam/sauce smells awfully winy.... can we say alcoholic? I haven't actually had the gumption of trying it for fear of early morning intoxication with my yogurt or toast.

Good and fizzy! But is it suitable for eating, or is it just wine must?

Guess I'll just have to eat a few spoonfuls and see if my ability to drive is affected. Ha!

Have you ever had questionable success fermenting things?


This post can be found on the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop.