Do you rinse/wash/soak blackberries?

[Sparrowlegs248]

Someone mentioned on another post about soaking them to get the WORMS out. I have never done this. Until today. Ds1 has been eating his own bodyweight in blackberries, straight off the Bush most days. God only knows how many baby maggots he's ingested. not envy.

I usually give them a quick rinse. Sometimes.

Soak in salt water here to dislodge the besties - it’s just extra protein tho 😂

Beasties

I soak them and the maggots float to the top. But I'm a vegetarian.

Soak them. Don’t want or need extra protein

Nope. Just eat, cook or freeze.
Nothing will survive chewing, stomach acid, heat or cold.
Soaking would ruin them for me.

I never really have before. I'm making BlackBerry vodka , which I've done many times. Never noticed the maggots but it gets well strained....

Eat them straight off the bushes (pick above dog pee height), been doing so for over 40 years and not dead yet.

No. Only pick from clean hedgerows within fields, not on roadsides and not low down, and I give each berry a quick glance as I pick it to make sure it's a good one.

I've never thought about beasties (eugh) . In the past I have washed if they were picked from a roadside but not if they were safe from exhaust fumes or pesticides. I always was fruit and veg if I buy them.
I will rethink in future as am now imagining little creatures lurking.

I’ve been soaking them for years and I’ve never seen a maggot .

I soak them; always find worms and bugs floating on the surface.

I pick sloes and blackberries etc every year and I always rinse them. The number of insects, not to mention worms, that fall into the basket makes sure of that.

I used to soak and dry them but now I have a baby I just put them in a colander under the tap, quick dry and in the freezer.

I do fill the bowl with water and usually a worm floats up, then drain. Saying that I eat tons straight off the bush too.

These are picked from our field so nowhere near a road but honestly, the number of tiny white worm/baby maggots was something to behold! They were nice large berries just right for picking (not squishy) Been picking them for years, along with other hedgerow foraging, and it's never crossed my mind. Damn these mumsnet threads!

Of course.

I might not mind the insects so much, but I don’t want to ingest any bird shit or rat piss thank you very much.

We soak them but we've never seen any beasties emerge. Bleugh.

I make blackberry jelly as I hate seeds. The fruit is strained through a jelly bag so no maggots in the end result.

You do have to look quite hard to see them, they are small.

No bird poo or rat wee (rat wee?? I've not seen rats scaling the brambles!)

If any makes it back I wash them but most get eaten (beasties and all) straight off the bush. Dd 5 has an iron gut.

They are tiny aren’t they? Perhaps you’ve got an infestation.

Ha, that was me with the worm chat! We picked Tupperwares full last autumn , and I accidentally left a couple out overnight and when I came down the next morning all the little worms had crawled out of the fruit and I assume suffocated. there were bloody hundreds. I’m not usually too precious with these things but that made me a bit boaky.

Thanks for that Sherlock!! It's not something I'd really considered before. Bleurgh.