Blackberries! The deer have it right - there is no better time than summer to live off the land. My children love to go blackberry-picking in late June and July. We live on ten wooded acres full of blackberry bushes.
Picking blackberries is a wonderful bonding family activity. The walking, hunting and picking also burns calories (which you will earn back exponentially when you make the Cobbler below!) It's educational; I appreciate my children making the connection regarding the origin of their food.
How Do You Pick Them?
To pick blackberries, you will need:
*Blackberry bushes
*Clothing to withstand thorns and Poison Ivy
*Gloves, maybe
*A hook of some sort, to pull far away branches closer
*An optimistic collection vessel
*Cooperative children
Poison Ivy likes to hang out in the same places as blackberry bushes, and they even look similar, so be certain you can identify this insidious weed beforehand. (Poison Ivy leaves never have "teeth" on the leaf edges and do not have thorns.)
My kids and I use our marshmallow-toasting hook to pull in the branches, but lots of tools (hoes, rakes), or even a stick, could work for this job. Pick carefully, avoiding the thorns. This is where gloves could be handy, but I like to live dangerously, so I pick them with my delicate, white-girl hands. Avoid snakes, bees and overexposure to the God-forsaken heat. Mosquito protection can also come in handy. If you see a huge, hairy vine that looks like an anaconda with plugs, get the heck out! It's the mother-of-all-Poison-Ivy vines. Ask me how I know.
When you have brought home your delicious bounty, you can make it into Blackberry Cobbler. Although my husband whines, because this recipe is not a copy of his Mommy's Blackberry Cobbler (which is actually a pie), he nevertheless devours it. And you simply must have a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or at least a generous glop of whipped cream with the cobbler!
Blackberry Cobbler
1/2 + 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
3 T melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/4 t ground cinnamon
about 2 cups fresh blackberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12x9x2" casserole dish. In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and the egg; mix well. Stir in the butter. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add into sugar/egg combination, alternating with milk. Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine clean, drained blackberries with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Place the berries in the bottom of the casserole dish, then top with the batter. Bake 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
Happy foraging!
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