Blackberries

[Tsalagi]

Mushroom season is over and we're kicking the blackberry season in at high gear. We picked a bunch last weekend and got ten pounds of them today. I discovered knee-high snakeproof boots are the way to go with blackberry picking. We bought a pressure canner and my wife has really gotten into this canning thing. Which is great. Some people up the street have a pear tree and they won't eat them. We asked for them and they said take them all. So we did! We showed up with an extension fruit picker and stripped the tree clean except for about 10% we leave for the birds. We'll go next weekend and get more blackberries. We get these in Oak Creek Canyon, which is Highway 89 between here and Sedona.

[NTD]

You might want to be careful Kevan, I think those berries are poisonous
Sounds like you don't have to do much shopping at the grocery store there Kevan.  I'm gonna have to take you up on your offer this deer season just so I can get a taste of the wild at your dinner table.

[Justin Snyder]

That is great Kevan. Don't forget the prickly pear fruit.  We found a huge berry patch planted on the side of the highway in public access that we pick a lot of berries from. I finally went one step farther and talked to a land owner who let me plant a large area with thornless berries.

If you really want to do your wife a favor go get a steam canner. I only use my pressure canner for a few things that have to be pressured like meats. The steam canner works well for all of your fruits and jams and cuts the canning time and work significantly. I like the steam canner so much more that I bought a second one.

[Thwackaddict]

Hey guys not meaning to butt in or anything but why you pressure canning or steaming em?When you cook the berries down you got plenty heat and the jars will seal themselves.Just fill em to an 1/8" from top lid and screw em down tight and flip em.When they cool you'll hear em popping if not they pop when you flip em back upright.Havent had one not seal yet.Much quicker and easier too.JMO

[gstoneberg]

We always froze the blackberries, unless we were making jam.  For the jam we did what Randy suggested.  I do love blackberry cobbler.  I love the mushrooms too.  I haven't found either in Texas.

George

[Justin Snyder]

Hey guys not meaning to butt in or anything but why you pressure canning or steaming em?When you cook the berries down you got plenty heat and the jars will seal themselves.Just fill em to an 1/8" from top lid and screw em down tight and flip em.When they cool you'll hear em popping if not they pop when you flip em back upright.Havent had one not seal yet.Much quicker and easier too.JMO

You have had better luck than me then, I have had a few not seal. Just setting them on the steamer for about 5 minutes guarantees that they seal.

[Del the cat]

I've just eaten a BIG slice of Blackberry & Apple pie .
First of the season, it tells me Summer is about done. There such a nice Zen thing about picking blackberries.
It's a bit of a metaphor for life, you see those big fat sweet ones way up out of reach, you bust a gut to get 'em and they aren't any nicer than those right in front of your face.
Getting a bit too philosophical, maybe another slice of pie will cure it 
Del

[Thwackaddict]

George when i come down I'll bring ya some blackberry jelly and hopefully some morels if they do good this spring.This year we didnt get enuf rain and they didnt fare very well.
Justin- I agree but thats just the way my family has done it.
Del- I'm jealous i wanna black and apple pie!!

[Hillbilly]

Hey guys not meaning to butt in or anything but why you pressure canning or steaming em?When you cook the berries down you got plenty heat and the jars will seal themselves.Just fill em to an 1/8" from top lid and screw em down tight and flip em.When they cool you'll hear em popping if not they pop when you flip em back upright.Havent had one not seal yet.Much quicker and easier too.JMO

Same with me. I've canned a bunch of salsa and elderberry jelly the last couple weeks, usually can a bunch of stuff every year. I never use a canner for stuff like that. Just sterilize my jars and keep them in the oven on 170*. I keep the flip lids and rings in a pot of simmering water. I ladle the hot stuff into the jars one at a time, put the lids on as I fill them, and stick the jars all together and cover them with a towel. I usually start hearing the seals popping within a half-hour or less. It's very rare for me to have a jar not seal.

[Tsalagi]

Sure, Nate! We'll just have to figure out a time. Yeah, those berries could be poisonous, LOL! Funny thing is most of the tourists that stop to dabble their toes in Oak Creek think they're raspberries and are eating the red, unripe ones---if they dare eat any at all. So, of course, they think they're too sour. It's too much fun. "Are these raspberries?" No, those are Habeeb Ibn Ibrahim Berries. They come from the Middle East. You dry them and smoke them mixed with tobacco in your water pipe. "Really?!" Yes, really. This is why we're collecting them, peace be upon you.

Justin, yes, we have some prickly pear fruits up on Mount Elden just a half mile hike from our front door. They were still a bit green last week when we checked on them. No one picks these. But people do pick the ones down near Sedona.

  My wife wanted the pressure canner to be able to have a "one pot does all" canner in our limited space kitchen. The guy who built these townhouses is from Europe and built these like Alpine chalets basically. The kitchens are small and not a lot of storage space. Half the utensils we have are hanging on the wall and we have two wall-hanging spice racks. But, we have a stone-faced woodburning fireplace with a big oak mantle, so we can't complain. So, since we have the pressure canner, we just pressure can. Takes out any guesswork and we know they're sealed tight. We're at 7,000 feet altitude and pressure canning is really the way to go up here.

[cracker]

Those blackberries make some very fine wine. Anyone ever tried prickly pears for wine.Ron

[sailordad]

Those blackberries make some very fine wine. Anyone ever tried prickly pears for wine.Ron

ive heard prickly pear wine is good,never had it though

[El Destructo]

Prickly Pear makes some Fine Eaten Jelly...I know this for a fact!

[gstoneberg]

So does jalapeno peppers.  Pepper jelly + cracker + cream cheese = Yummmmm!

George

[El Destructo]

Yep...some of the best Jellies I have ever eaten are from some of the strangest things...stuff you would never expect to make a Good Jelly from...like Cactus....Jalapenos..and Beets and Elderberries...