to wonder why there are blackberries going bad whilst people complain that they don't have enough money to feed their family healthy food.

[froken]

We went blackberry picking today, I was expecting a couple of manky blackberries to be left because I hear so often in the media and on mumsnet people saying how they struggle to feed their dc healthy food and sometimes people saying they have a hard time finding enough money to feed their dc at all.

There was a huge amount of blackberries, we were a 20 min walk outside a major city so an easily accessible place for 1000s of families.

We picked 9 pounds of blackberries.

Aibu to think that it would be a good idea for those struggling to feed their family a healthy diet (and those struggling to feed their family at all) should be out picking the free fruit that grows all over England's public spaces?

Surely this is Hugh Fearlessly-eats-it-all territory, SAF.

If my arithmetic is correct, the entire 9lb of blackberries that you picked contains roughly 1700 calories.

I thought the wild ones were called brambles? Or maybe that's a Scottish name?

Very topical HavantGuard

I think brambles is the Scottish name. It's what we always called them. I used to go picking brambles and wild raspberries in the village I grew up in.

I live in NE Scotland, and I'm poor too,

But it's ok, we don't starve, I just go to the local shops and lick the chip papers that people throw away,

I have a rowan tree in my garden, I could just pick the berries off!

Come to think of it, I saw a squirrel in my front garden the other week, I will have to go and catch them won't I?

I also live near some woodland, there are deer there, I'll just get my shotgun out and go and shoot the poor Bambis.

Why did I not think of these solutions before!

You forgot the slugs Gytha.

Has anyone said 'let them eat cake' yet?

Am I the only person who calls them brambles rather than blackberries?

When you make jam with them do you strain the pips out or just turn the whole fruit into jam?

Maybe their kids are allergic to berries?

Or they are allergic to wasp stings?

Or they realise their salvation does not lie with some fucking bitter, bug infested berries?

still laughing @ noelheadbands

Don't salt them though. They turn into slug-sludge. (I nearly left off the slug there, which would have had you all scratching your heads in puzzlement. "Slugs turn into slug, if you add salt?")

They have to be eaten fresh.

Excuse me, I need to vomit now.

four - oh, the blackberries are still there. Likewise plenty of rosy-cheeked exceptionally middle-class children.

Poor people can't afford allergies not if its free

I have fond memories of that anaphylactic shock I'll have you know

Wet August I talk about "bloody brambles catching on my clothes", but I call the fruit a "blackberry".

Not sure why. Bramble is more poetic, I think, though. Very Wordsworth.

Just been trying to find a recipe for Birdlime to trap your own birds. On reflection, I reckon superglue from the £1 shop would do the trick with a lot less hassle.

You can raise guinea pigs for meat in a small flat.

Is this for real?

Being fair to froken,I have eaten rabbit,wild pigeon,duck,goose etc etc and cooked with wild garlic and mushrooms,fruits and nuts.It's a good way to supplement your diet.

But unless you know people who shoot and/or live in a rural area,the amount of foraging to be had is strictly limited.

I think the one thing that I would love to see more people do is (if they are able) to pick any fruit etc in their garden (leaving some for the wildlife if wanted) and put any excess out for people to help themselves from.

I've just noticed other people asked the same question upthread.

Think bramble is a Scottish thing. When I see blackberry I think of Ribena - which I know is blackcurrant actually.

Seeds or no seeds in the jam?

To fair to the OP I do find it odd that people actually buy blackberries in supermarkets at this time of year, regardless of how rich or poor they are. You pay a rip off price for a tiny punnet, not much use to anybody, that has probably travelled for miles in a lorry, when you can have fresh ones in abundance for free. I also find it sad that some children wouldn't even know what a blackberry was (a boy of about 10 asked me the other day when I was picking some for the freezer, he didn't have a clue, and no we don't live in the inner city, far from it).

i'm a bit lost as to how blackberries are considered 'really nutritious too tbh I thought they were full of vitamin C.

Obviously a few blackberries aren't going to feed a family, that goes without saying, but the OP has a point in that the bushes are dripping with fruit this year and nobody seems to notice.

1700 calories?! i wonder how many calories would be used by a family picking 9lbs of them and taking them home?

it's not adding up this is it?

Let them eat jam ROAR

Let's bring back scrumping too. I mean it's technically stealing but still. Better than a turkey twizzler.

Seeds in, round our gaff

Well, whatever my quibbles with the OP, she created a thread that would go on to contain ArbitraryUsername's genius coinage of Hugh Fearlessly-eats-it-all.

Everything is forgiven- I've been laughing ever since Arbitrary posted that!