to be saddened by "don't be disgusting, if you want blackberries we'll get them from the supermarket"?

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We spent a good part of yesterday afternoon blackberrying as a family. It was lovely. DCs ate more fruit than they would normally eat in a week, we chatted about nothing / really important stuff all afternoon, whole family returned totally relaxed, we had blackberries and ice cream for tea and have enough in the freezer to keep us in crumbles all winter.

But, while we were out there was a young girls c. 4yo with her grandparents. She wanted to pick and try the fruit like my Dcs were doing. Her grandmother told here "Don't be disgusting, if you want blackberries we'll get some from Tescos". Why in the world would she think chemical laden soft fruit from the supermarket was less disgusting than wild fruit and deprive her GD such a wonderful simple pleasure? It was said in a voice designed for us to hear too, which I thought was a nice touch, but I suppose at least she had taken the little girl out into the countryside

Sloes make a very nice squash, much nicer than Ribena.

YANBU - The blackberries in supermarkets are a bit odd - huge long things, like raspberries on steroids, blackberries are meant to be small and bobbly and tart.

Already been out here a few times picking blackberries, and there's still loads round here ripening

There are loads of sloes on the hedgerows too, how do I know when they are ripe? They seem to be ready early this year and online all it says is wait till the first frost????

mummyosaurus, I give them a rinse in the sieve, bag them up and bung them in the freezer. That does mean you get a block of berries stuck together though, so you have to defrost the whole bag. I believe the "proper" way to do it is to freeze them laid out on trays first and then bag up the frozen blackberries. I just do them in small bags to save the faff though.

I shall try that, Cory. I far prefer cordial to gin (though equal quantities of homemade raspberry cordial and homemade sloe gin, diluted with sparkling water, makes a fab summer drink).

Elderberries, too, make fab cordial, only don't overboil them or it tastes a bit tannic.

I don't agree with that womans attitude but we don't all have them in such easy reach unfortunately - if I did we would be out picking and picking I can assure you!

I admit I do keep a couple cans of blackberries in the cupboard, for making blackberry and apple crumble throughout the winter. They're really cheap tinned, too.

I used to pick field mushrooms when they grew in our shady garden but I couldn't be sure of recognising others for certain. A friend (from a mycophilic culture!) has offered to show me more types of edibles and how to confirm what they are, but never got round to doing it.

My mum's neighbours have fruit trees. They let it all fall down and sweep it into the compost bin or let the birds get it. Then they go to Morrisons and buy the same fruit they just binned . Mum said she liked apples, pears etc so they have now said she can go get as much as she likes. Last year we made an amazing orchard fruit jam.

I loooove blackberries, does anyone know if there are any on Hampstead Heath?

Oh, I don't know where the blackberries are out here in the countree- it's all KEEP OUT signs and barbed wire, I haven't been able to explore at all! But I have advice for those in Sarf Lannun :) All the commons and protected 'waste' land are teeming with blackberries and lilac trees. If you're right down the bottom, there's a footpath along the river Wandle - you can walk all the way from Wandsworth to Croydon, if you're feeling fit - with berry bushes alongside, and some nice pubs.

There was a chap on the radio a few weeks ago,saying that since lead petrol was banned,the level of pollutants on roadside fruit is tiny-nothing that can't be washed off.

I rarely leave the house without a basket this time of year,we live in the country and pick mushrooms,blackberries,crab apples,wild plums,sloes,anything we can.

The milk thing reminds me of when I was little and stayed with my gran for a bit.We lived on a farm and drank milk straight from the cow or took it home in a bucket.I was mystified at the sight of milk bottles as I'd never seen such a thing.Apparently I asked my gran where her milk came from,because ours came from cows.I never drank treated milk until I was 17 and at work.

Very sad. My dcs love picking fruit. We've had free damsons and cherries this year, plus tons of blackberries from a huge bramble I'm training up the back of the house, and yesterday we got mulberries! I'm also going to ask the church down the road if they mind me picking the mirabelle plums in the graveyard. They should be nicely fertilised . Ah well. If there are people who don't want it, all the more for those of us who do.

I would love to pick mushrooms as there are lots around here but I do not have the confidence.

The only blackberry bushes we have near us is where all the dogs do their business :(
Nothing wrong with picking them from somewhere clean though, we used to do it loads as a kid and I've got loads of fond memories from it.

*twinklytroll, have you tried having a look online for some guidance? bet you could get some lovely meals with fresh mushrooms!

Be careful about what is in the soil they grow in, it will be in the fruit too. My Dad used to pick blackberries when I was a kid near where he worked on what we now know iscontaminated soil. I have been told this is strongly suspected to be implicated in my developing MS.

I buy them from the supermarket because we live in a city and there are no brambles anywhere near where we live. There are no 'pick your own' farms either.

I grew up in the suburbs though with brambles at the bottom of the garden and growing alongside residential streets. I am not at all precious about it, so sorry I don't need my 'head examining' (thanks Senua) it is just not financially viable or convenient for me to get on more than one bus with 2 2.7 year olds when I could walk for 10 minutes and buy some.

Not that I do that often as the price is EXTORTIONATE!

Is it mushroom season @ the moment?
Must go and have a look, found loads of weird and wonderful ones last year!

i picked loads of blackberries the other day and made this cake with them and its lovely. you can also add some apples to it or change the blackberries for raspberries. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12971/blackberry-and-coconut-squares

Last year my wife and I picked about 9 1/2 pounds of blackberries and made enough jam to last 6 months. It was wonderful! The sad thing is that I no longer work where I picked them and have no idea where to find some locally.

we have two bushes in our wild backgarden,my 3 yr old sneeks out every morning in her pj's and stuff's her face with them.... all of her pj's now have purple stains down the front

it's so sad that people can be so detached from the things they eat...

Some children have no concept of where food comes from anymore, my friend asked her 5yo stepson 'do you know where eggs come from?' he thought for a while then replied 'Asda'.
Maybe the vegetables growing in my garden are disgusting as well and I should go and buy the nice clean plastic wrapped ones from the supermarket

highland, my DD thought potatoes grew on trees. Honestly. She is 10.