If you don't let your kid eat blackberries...

[OuchIsLife]

Before they have been washed what do you think will happen? Or what has happened?

Just curious as I've always let my kids eat them as soon as they've picked them and I'm not sure what harm would come to them.

I'm completely put off picking local blackberries now.

i grew up in the country side and picked buckets full . My mum would always soak them before she cooked them as little white worms would emerge .

I don't think I've ever washed a piece of fruit in my life. My kids eat blackberries off the bushes every time we go to the woods. They know to go for higher up ones to avoid dog wee but I can't guarantee they haven't eaten the low down manky ones. All still alive and we haven't had a sickness bug since norovirus about 9 years ago.

I let mine eat raspberries straight off the plants in the allotment but I don’t think I would let them eat blackberries. Not the 2 year old certainly as he hasn’t the judgement to say if it is a blackberry or other berry.

I used to eat them off the bush and then saw a thread where you soak the berries in water with lemon juice or some vinegar in there- you will see the worms wriggle out and float to the top. Its actually very off putting, but apparently they are safe to eat.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/remove-bugs-from-blackberries_uk_64db530be4b01e7cf0274fa6

Always soak them in water with either a dash of vinegar or salt, then rinse them before using. They can be crawling with fruit fly larvae (small white worms)
it probably won't do them any harm, it's just protein that has only eaten blackberries its whole life.
But I don't particularly want to eat them.

My labradors don't wee on brambles, they compete to reach the most blackberries on each low branch, they love them.

I occasionally rinse them, otherwise I eat them off the branch. We live in the country in case that's relevant.

Couldn't care less about the odd bug.

I peeled some cooking apples that came down in the wind yesterday and I did evict the maggots from the centre of those. But the odd bit of bug poo isn't the worst thing.

I have never washed them. Been picking them from the roadside etc all my life.

My mum told me the myth that if it rains, then you should not pick them as they will be full of maggots.

That helps...they could get worms

What??? How on earth will your kids get worms from fruit fly lava as that’s what the little white worms are.

My kids used to eat them from the garden all the time in summer before they took over somewhat and we had to spend a fuck tonne on professional removal. We didn’t have a dog so dog wee was no threat but I guess they may or may not have had possums pissing on them. If they did it never had ill effect on the kids. Nor did eating fruit fly infested fruit. You just couldn’t see them when freshly picked but if you left them in a bowl for several hours you would see little white worms, and then the next day they would be big fat maggots. So the rule was pick off the bush and pop straight in the mouth. Stomach acid takes care of fruit fly lava nicely😁.

For the same reasons why you should wash commercially grown fruit and veg - bacteria, animal wee, toxins (eg heavy metals) in particulate matter from things like car exhaust, bugs, bug eggs, they may have been sprayed with pesticides or weed killer (especially if they are roadside or on a hedge around a field). The risk of getting sick in the short term is low, it’s almost impossible to avoid toxins that will make you sick in the long term (eg heavy metals, other carcinogens), but it’s still a risk. What do I think will happen? Probably nothing, the same as eating unwashed salad from the supermarket, but people do get E.coli from unwashed supermarket salad and die or suffer kidney failure…

Mainly, as a PP said, because it’s not a great habit to let DC just eat berries from the bush because they aren’t great at identifying poisonous plants and berries.

Don’t you mind if your children eat blackberries full of maggots and covered with dog piss and insects, including their excrement? They won’t die, but it’s not good! Surely you don’t need it spelled out for you, when it’s common sense!

I've heard the same thing about strawberries re little white maggoty worms coming out 🤢
I've got a punnet of them in the fridge right now but too scared to soak them lol!
We have blackberries in our garden and DH picked some the other day to put on his cereal. I doubt he even washed them.

Sorry to be nit picky, but if you are talking about the wild ones, it's probably brambles, rather than a commercially grown blackberry (delicious)
I live on a cliff top, and have actually seen dogs peeing on the bushes, so don't eat the low hanging fruit.
When I collect brambles I will soak them for hours, in order to remove any pollutants or wormy things. (probably knocks out the vit C!)
My husband who will always ask in any fruit has been washed will eat them from the bush.Obviously brambles don't count!

Different people just have different levels of scrupulousness when it comes to washing things. I’ve never washed any fresh produce, either picked or bought, because it really doesn’t bother me. Life is dirty, and I do a lot of grimy things in my spare time for fun, a bit of extra grime is neither here nor there. Some people feel otherwise, and as it’s only affecting them, it doesn’t really matter.

I had a punnet of strawberries from Sainsburys bit into one, and there was a massive green worm thing in it.

I eat from the bush (lol) all the time. Ignorance is bliss, and insects/grubs are not harmful to ingest.

They really couldn't! Bugs that live on fruit are not the same as 'worms' ie parasites that live in digestive systems. If they do eat some bugs their stomach acid kills them.

I'm enthusiastic about my kids picking and eating berries because they're full of vitamins and it's great that they understand how fruit grows. We have a rule that I need to check they have identified the berries correctly before eating it, so we know they're not poisonous ones. Also no picking beside main roads because of traffic pollution. Ignore your friends they're being weird 😁

As a child I ate everything fresh off the bush, or in the ground from the allotments. Even carrots pulled out of the ground. Quick rinse under the tap and munch. I ate all the berries, green beans, carrots. Still prefer them raw to cooked.

I must have invested a good variety of bugs and bacteria. Yum.

I let mine pick and eat them straight off the hedges when we go for a walk too, as long as they're high up and not near a busy road.
I did it all the time as a child too no harm ever came to me!

1. Nothing but it's gross
2. Yes regularly
3. Nothing

Now peas - they have never yet reached the kitchen. Straight from the pod - which I suppose is some protection.

Taught my kids from a young age to only pick from a certain height my daughter had everyone in stitches when she was offered a fresh picked berry and she enquired are they from above dog cocking height? They were actually strangers and really found it funny her FIRST response wasn't stranger danger but is there any dog wee on them 😂

*I had a punnet of strawberries from Sainsburys bit into one, and there was a massive green worm thing in it.

I eat from the bush (lol) all the time. Ignorance is bliss, and insects/grubs are not harmful to ingest.*

Oh don't!!! 🤢

I don't imagine they are harmful but it's definitely put me off!

I had a punnet of strawberries from Sainsburys bit into one, and there was a massive green worm thing in it.

That is infinitely better than half a worm.

Well they might get the shits I suppose.
It's really more the thought of it. Blackberries are filled with those tiny white insects for a start.
Although I suppose they're a good source of protein 🤷
The worst imo would be any picked by the side of a busy road because of all the car fumes.

Both my kids pick and eat blackberries without washing but normally just as they are filling a tub to bring home so it’s not masses, and I then soak them and freeze or boil in sugar straight away. Blackberries don’t last five minutes so have to be used straight after picking generally.

My kids also snack on fruit and veg from the garden (tomatoes, beans etc) although I do make them wash things that grow low down (strawberries for example). Mine are 4 and 6 and understand you can’t just pick and eat anything (rowan berries are for the birds etc) surely it’s quite easy to explain that to most kids…

I grew up in the country, my parents have a large and quite wild fruit orchard that’s been there for a couple of hundred years, we always picked plums, apples, blackberries, pears, and would eat as we went. Just check it doesn’t have a worm and it isn’t soft/bruised/mouldy. Last week I was there and some other kids were round to play and were absolutely horrified my girls were picking and eating as they rambled round the orchard without washing the fruit. This is local, pesticide free goodness. It’s a shame some children are kind of scared to live a little! I picked a plum, rubbed it on my t shirt and gave one of them it to eat and her little face as she ate it was one of delight!

I feel like we are so precious these days about a bit of bacteria. I wash produce from supermarkets because it’s covered in pesticides half the time! And you’ve no idea who has picked it or what’s happened in transit etc. but when you’re picking it yourself and it’s not touching soil (hanging off a tree/bush) where more harmful bacteria tends to be I think your risk is pretty low. Also 101 of blackberry picking is always go above dog wee level even if I soaked them I wouldn’t want those ones in my crumble or jam 😂