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

OP, you were more restrained than I would have been. Can imagine I would have blurted out something opinionated and vitriolic. I am surprised that oldies have that attitude, surely they remember the days when supermarkets didn't exist? Having said that, MIL and FIL eat tons of supermarket fruit that's always out of season and wonder why it's not tasty e.g. Nectarines in December and strawberries in March. If I try and explain the concept of eating what's in season here they just smile indulgently as if I'm the mad one.

Wow, that took off!

To be clear though, I have no objection to people who don't have the time, opportunity or inclination to pick their own, buying them as they please. It was preventing the child from even trying them which I thought was sad.

sieginde, what do you do with your hawthorn berries and elderberries. we have loads, but apart from drink, I don't know what to do with them. Not that drink's bad, but I do like free food!!

I tried nettles this spring (at DS1's insistance) I can only think I did something wrong as they were awful, although DS1 ate his!

33goingon64, I have loads of retorts now but was just stunned at the time

Had some shop bought blackberries yesterday and they were ghastly.

I make a hedgerow jelly, into which I throw everything. Hawthorns, crabs, elderberries, rowanberries, sloes. Also some windfall apples or plums. Add the weight of it in sugar and a squeeze of lemon and strip of lemon peel. Boil, skim. Comes out almost black and very stiff. Great as a spread, with cheese, or with roast meat. you can do the same with any of these alone. Or look at this book, which also tells you ways with gorse flowers... much more comprehensive than Mabey.

www.amazon.co.uk/Essence-Recipes-Champignon-David-Everitt-Matthias/dp/1904573525/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313752399&sr=1-1

Last week with little ones in tow we
picked a whole carrier bag full of
Hazel nuts in local woods & a large
celebrations tin of blackberries .

That's really sad. But I know people like this. Several of my mum-friends look a bit askance of me when I start foraging on a nice stroll in the park. To me, picking some fruit off bushes as I pass them is second nature. I was brung up to it!

I think, with some people, it isn't just the fact that they've lost touch with the source of foodstuffs, it's also the ingrained belief that food has to be 'better' if you pay for it.

Having said that, I have been known to buy blackberries in the shops if they're reduced because they're very lucious and large - they are domesticated varieties, grown for size and juiciness. It's not always that easy to find large juicy ones growing wild, though my top tip for that is to search near water. Blackberry vines with their toes in canals, ponds, etc, always seem to have huge, sweet berries! (And don't pick just after it's rained - soft fruit always tastes watery if it's been raining a lot. Ideally, you should pick after a day or so of strong sunshine, to bring the sugar content up.)

Have just foraged 700g of lovely juicy sweet balckberries on wandsworth common - i got a few looks and no one else was joining in but it was well worth it. There were TONS! Blackberry whiskey is now steeping away in a big jar plus some extra for crumble tonight. Might have another go one evening this week for the freezer.

Not many elderberries though - i wanted to try elderberry vodka (you can see my theme is booze!) will have to look further afield, maybe a trip to richmond park.

moonmother the reason for not picking sloes until after the first frost is because you need the cold to split the skins so that the flavour will infuse properly when you turn them into sloe gin etc.

However there is a really simple trick to solving this problem, pop them in the freezer for a day or so, hey presto. This also negates the need to prick every sloe by hand with a pin - a very time consuming job.

Btw, sloes are ripe when they turn from green to purple/blue. They're very bitter and unpalatable raw, I've not managed to successfully put them to good use for anything other than sloe gin/vodka. If anyone has any recipes they've tried that do work I'd be interested to hear.

Someone always gets to the ones in the local park before me. So I end up buying them in the supermarket. It'd be great to get them for free though!

How sad. I remember a girl in my class being distraught when she discovered what natural fertiliser comprised of. She vowed to avoid fruit and veg because that is clearly disgusting, especially the organic stuff lol.

People give me weird looks for foraging for blackberries but I think, more fool them and more blackberries for me! We have 3 apple trees in our garden and they make a lovely apple and blackberry crumble!

On a positive note, my garden plum tree has finally started to ripen, and they are better than chocolate!

It doesn't make me sad... more for me!

Sad! Our neighbors have huge raspberry bushes that grow onto our side of the fence and they always tell us that whatever is on our side belongs to us. :) DS loves to stop and grab a handful when he's playing outside, and we pick them for scones etc.

It's lovely to eat food you've picked yourself and see where it's come from!

We love picking blackberries - we have loads and loads in our garden.

I make blackberry oat bars, crumbles (using our own apples too) and DH is a fantastic jam maker.

I would never ever buy them from the supermarket.

. - if my grandma could pick it, what ever it maybe she would pick it and use it.

They weren'y Australian were they? You can't pick wild blackberries here unless you can be certain they haven't been sprayed. They are a pest here.
Otherwise - very sad. Maybe it was the MNer who dissifects all her supermarket goods before she puts them in her cupboard?

Would love to pick sloes and make liqueur, but not confident enough to be sure that what I've seen is sloes! Have made damson gin, vodka and brandy...which should be ready to bottle before christmas.

Have also made lots and lots of plum jam (first time) this year...

Re the blackberries, I'm going to make Blackberry Slump this week...for the MIL and DH. My mum made it when we were kids and I've just managed to get the recipe from my Dad...
You simmer the fruit in sugar and put dollops of scone dough (on top) which cooks on top of the fruit....absorbing the juices. Delicious!

I worry a dog has peed on them

Just avoid the ones at dog height AngryBeaver, and pick the ones from higher up!

exactly....you never pick ones lower down...and the best ones are always higher up anyway

MIRABELLES!!! Thank you, sieglinde. I've been wondering for ages what they were- no-one seemed to know, even my green-fingered FIL. There are loads round here.

I recently found a superb blackberry patch and dragged the boys off to pick. They spent the whole time asking if we could go home yet... I still got several bags full though.

DS2 begged once for some blackberries from Tesco and I gave in as the wild ones weren't ready. They looked luscious, but were bitter and a bit tasteless. Lesson learned for ds2.

ooh no we have them in abundance by us, and in fact at the market DS looks at the blackberries in punnets & says 'mummy, why do people buy these?' my response if usually 'cos they want to waste money and buy them instead of having fun picking them. ;o' gets odd looks, we're v v lucky to also have 2 apple trees - althou i'm to decide exactly what apples they are, but they're suitable for cooking with (albeit v small) so we have free blackberry & apples all winter - good times. :)

(but yes I tend not to go for lower level ones, and DS usually eats more than goes in his pot. lol. - they're early out this year i've noticed)

(but then as well i'm the sort of bad parent who's family grows their wn veg in the gardens, so DS is literally encouraged to pick his crops (button carrots, peas green beans tomatoes peppers specifically) straight from the tree sometimes with a wash if they're v dirty but otherwise eaten straight from the ground.

least he's learning where/how it all grows I think tbh - nothing worse than a child thinking it all comes from a super market/that milk comes from tescos (i've actually heard that before that it's not from cows it's from tescos) :(

Where do you find mirabelles in England? There are plenty in the markets here in Paris at this time of year, mostly grown in Alsace-Lorraine, I think, but I don't recall ever seeing any in England, either in the shops or on trees.

There's tons of blackberries where I walk my dogs - I eat them every morning and so do the dogs - they nibble off the bottom of the bushes.

I've only noticed them in the last few years, Bonsoir, so perhaps they had a planting drive a few years ago? The ones I've seen are roadside.

We get ours from the huge bush behind our house, but my mum always tells me not to because they are full of lead