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

So is this the official Competitive Blackberrying Thread?

In response to OP, yes that is sad really but as others have said, people are very out of touch with their food.

And to those who think it silly some people pay the extortionate fee for blackberries, I live in the middle of London so don't really have a choice, hardly because I am silly, but much more because I like the fruit enough to part with my money.

We have been picking a mug full every night for the last week on our nightly walk. The DCs love it, they eat some as we are going round and save some for our porridge the next day, it is scrummy.

We went to Centerparcs Whinfell a few weeks ago and got a huge bowl full of bilberries they were great as well.

I took my kids to the park yesterday, we had a "picnic" from greggs and picked loads of blackberrys afterwards. we were surrounded by catsbums all day, was great.

nothing better than picking your own fruit, we have raspberrys, blackberrys and gooseberrys in the garden. we go to a fruti farm as well that lets you pick your own and the strawberrys are the nicest strawberrys ever. i firmly believe that the weirder looking a fruit or vegetable is the nicer it tastes so getting to get strawberrys before regulations come in is such a treat.

We have a lovely plum tree in our garden which provides us with more plums that I could ever eat - we distribute them to everyone.

BIL came round with his kids a couple of years ago and the youngest one was really surprised to see the fruit on a tree so I asked if he wanted to pick one and eat it. I assured BIL it was fine but he spent the whole time saying "are you sure they're safe to eat"

His DS seemed quite the convert though!

Tonnes of blackberries in the lane near us. It's quite common to see other parents and their children down there picking them in the summer.

Does anyone have any good elderberry recipes? there are tons growing near me

Even in the centre of London, there are places to go blackberrying

Now we've moved to the coast, there's nowhere :( Still, my sister has loads of bushes so I shall nip up there in a few weeks and get picking

We usually buy the milk straigh from the farmers. Some of our American friends were horrified as according to them, unpasteurized milk is full of germs and bacteria and will probably kill you.
And another woman I know will not buy eggs from their neighbours farm, apparently it's disgusting that the eggs come out of the chickens bums. They do eat supermarket eggs though. I guess she believes that those are made in a factory.

Our wild blackberries aren't quite ripe yet, but my neighbour grows some and gave me a load yesterday. Unfortunately I had to buy some cooking apples to stew with them as ours in the garden won't be ready for another few weeks. I've stewed them and will be making a pie very shortly.

I will not buy blackberries. Madness.

I just got this in my in-box: www.naturedetectives.org.uk/download/blackberry_pack.htm - loads of recipes and collecting tips :)

How sad. The wild ones taste SO much nicer.

Everytime I've walked to work this holiday I've seen people picking blackberries, brought back memories of when I was little I might take mine one day if theres any left

How weird....

I love blackberry picking and have 2 pots in the freezer which I'm looking forward to transforming into blackberry and apple crumbles or pies...

Have also made pots and pots of jam from plums from our own plum tree (and those from MILs allotment damson tree). Have enough to feed the extended family for at least a year....and am also going to make damson vodka, gin and brandy!

Why would you buy stuff that you can obtain for free! Doesn't make any sense at all.

Agree with Christine - PLENTY of places to pick blackberries around london!

in our area the blackberries are all (but very few places) in dogpiss height

Not all bramble plants taste the same, worth sampling each before you pick loads.

i love blackberry picking, can recommend this recipe too although def needs some lemon peel to get it to set.

very yummy

When I was a child the October half term was called blackberry week. I lived in the north and either global warming has had a huge effect or blackberries are ripe much earlier further south as I am always amazed to see them ready to pick this early in the year.

I'm not surprised about the comment you heard - some people are ridiculously uptight about cleanliness.

We grow them in the garden. I bought a couple of blackberry plants and train them. They taste yummy.

Bonkers! Still all the more for the rest of us.
I made lots of elderflower cordial in the early summer-it was delicious. I know a place where I am aiming to get apples,damsons and blackberries-all on public footpaths.

There's tons near where I live in very industrial SE London.. edges of footpaths, and of course brambles love popping up alongside deserted factories/wastegrounds etc! There's also tons of mirabelles, apples and elderberries growing wild too.

One thing that does put me off them slightly is the fear of maggots having come across them a few times - but usually a sound inspection of each one makes it less of an issue.

DH made blackberry jam a few years ago we picked so many - my mum used to when I grew up in Cornwall too.

Last year I was out with the DCs and they were picking and eating blackberries as always. A West African man stopped and asked (nicely!) what we were doing as he assumed they were poisonous! He was delighted when I said they were not, and they were the same as the things you could buy in supermarkets and I left him with plans to take his own DCs out blackberrying the next weekend. I suspect that is why we have so many left round our way as not many of the local population know they're edible.

Blackberries were quite early this year I think - there's quite a few bushes on one of the roads we walk down to get to school, and we were picking and eating the berries the last couple of weeks of school (another South Londoner btw)

I'm glad to hear there's still berries on the top of Streatham Common though, we walk through the Rookery on the way to my MILs every Saturday afternoon, and every time I kick myself for forgetting to take something to put them in.

I'm always surprised how many of us there are around here now.

South East London?

Must be loads in and around Greenwich and Blackheath....also head to Mudchute across the foot tunnel....where we used to pick loads as kids (along the footpath by some allotments).

For north london there's the Regents Canal (obviously high up ones...), hampstead heath....etc

You just need to look around!

My Dad used to make Elderberry Wine (presume it was good, but I was a bit young to try it) and Crab Apple jelly (foul) from the trees around the Estate we lived on when I was little.

Oh, we go beyond blackberries . We pick wild garlic and jack-by-the-hedge and nettles in spring, elderflower in summer, meadowsweet in late summer, and by this time are picking up free mirabelles from the many trees in Oxfordshire, crabapples, rowanberries, elderberries, and hawthorn berries. But we like blackberries too. My dd can find the honey parts of dead nettles, and we also make lavender sugar and lavender shortbread.