Picking our way into Autumn

I’m deputizing for Vicky this month in our Notes from Home as she is taking some very well deserved time off! I’ll start with an old riddle I heard a few years ago:

As white as snow, and snow it is not,
as green as grass, and grass it is not,
as red as blood, and blood it is not,
as black as soot, and soot it is not.
What is it?

I found the answer when dropping my kids to school on a recent crisp blue morning. I noticed a few of their fellow students, stopped at the side of the road. Momentarily concerned, I quickly realized they were busy at an impressive tangle of briar near the school gates. There were white flowers, and berries in various states of ripeness, from green, to red to black.

Blackberries! The sight of these kids helping themselves to an early morning snack reminded me that blackberry season is in full swing here in Ireland. So today I thought I would share some memories, folklore, history, and a few recipes for the fruit of this prickly shrub.

Blackberry season

Blackberry season runs from early August to the end of September. The berries begin ripening, turning from green, to red, to a deep shiny black over several weeks. My kids and I keep note of bushes that look to have “rich pickings”, as they call them - canes laden down with ripening fruit. We return to them week after week, to check and collect berries at their peak. Of course, we're careful to leave plenty behind for the birds and other animals that enjoy them too!

I maintain that everyone can while away happy hours of an autumn afternoon blackberry-picking. There are few things as unifying, for young or old, city or country. Seeing the kids out picking today reminded me of my own childish foraging. My mother has told me stories of her quests for the sweetest and juiciest berries as a child too! Many have similar memories, with Seamus Heaney famously capturing the magic in his poem, Blackberry Picking.

A hardy shrub

These coveted berries are the fruit of a widespread and tough native bramble, the blackberry shrub, here in Ireland. With at least 80 recorded sub-species here in Ireland, the trailing canes of the blackberry form dense thickets that you will spot in most hedgerows, parks, or forests. This omnipresence is no doubt part of the reason why it has such cultural significance here. The shrub crops up in ancient law books, folklore, and of course family recipes too, storing up all sorts of nostalgia and memory in its tart juice!

Blackberry folklore

There are well over 500 entries in the folklore collection mentioning blackberries! The first sight of ripening berries would elicit some to say "Go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo arís" - May we live to see this time again - one of my Granda's favorite phrases.

In countless entries, schoolkids talk of “playing blackberries” in autumn. Some tell of rubbing their nails with the first blackberry of the season to keep them strong for the coming year. Others made a wish with it.

With tins full after collecting, they would return home for their spoils to be turned into tarts (pies), jelly, and jam. There’s even a mention of a cure for a sore throat made out of blackberry jam. Indeed blackberry wines and tonics are credited with curing all manner of ills! Today we know that blackberries are good for you, packed as they are with antioxidants. So perhaps there is some substance to these stories?

Such cures may have been needed when there were especially rich pickings! There are several entries suggesting a good yield of blackberries was a sign that the coming winter would be very severe.

There are also repeated and stern warnings not to pick or eat blackberries after Michaelmas day on the 29th of September. The devil himself, or even the Pucá, would have spat on them, or worse! Some entries extended the season to the end of October and Samhain or Halloween. But all agree that interfering with the spirits' share could bring no end of misfortune, or even death!

This warning may have some grounding in science too! You see blackberries can get a little questionable as autumn really sets in, especially if there has been wet weather. Fungi (occasionally toxic) can grow on them! So perhaps those warnings had a little truth to them too.

The supernatural associations didn’t stop there though. Blackberries were also said to house fairies, who would be liable to take away any sick or delicate children they happened across. Children were also warned to stay away from brambles growing at “fairy forts”, no matter how laden with fruit they were! It seems berry picking is not without its dangers!

Blackberries in Medieval Law

Berry picking rarely fell foul of the law. The blackberry or bramble wasn’t considered one of the nobles of the wood. It wasn't given the protections afforded to trees like oak, hazel or holly. However, the culinary and medicinal utility of the prickly bush was valued, and there were consequences for serious damage to one of these hardy native shrubs.

According to the Bretha Comaithchesa, the ancient tree laws written over 1000 years ago, there was no penalty for minor damage to a bramble. Law-abiding people in the community were also afforded berry picking rights in private woods, so long as it didn’t cause any damage. Foragers would need to be careful though. Serious damage would result in a penalty of one sheep, to be paid out to the harmed party. Complete destruction of a shrub would cost the much more considerable sum of one yearling heifer!

Blackberry recipes

Medieval sources include recipes of sorts for all those foraged berries. Brothchán, reportedly a favorite of St. Columba and Irish medieval monks, was something like a porridge. It was made with oats and milk, with the added indulgence of honey, hazelnuts and blackberries for special occasions. This seems to have been a staple here in Ireland for some time, with similar recipes in much more recent entries in the folklore collection. It also doesn’t sound too far off from my own breakfast at this time of year!

Myself and my family are also partial to a blackberry-and-apple tart (pie), or blackberries with pancakes too. My kids will tell you though that the real winner is blackberry jam. Served on soda bread, a scone, or even with ice cream, it is delicious! We’re lucky to have a jam-maker in the family - Margo's recipe is below:

Margo's Blackberry Jam

Ingredients

• 1 kg blackberries
• 1 kg of fine sugar, like caster or golden caster sugar
• Juice of one lemon

Method

1. Pick fruits that are fully ripe with just one or two that are still a little red - these are full of natural pectin and will help your jam set! We avoid picking from bushes on roads where fumes can pollute the fruit. Likewise we pick from a few feet up the bush to ensure that no dogs have left their mark either! We also never pick a bush clean of ripe berries, leaving some for the birds, foxes and badgers that also enjoy the fruit. It's also a good idea to wear long sleeves and trousers - we discovered the peril of picking in shorts and t-shirts in the fine weather this August. We had more than a few scratches reaching for those juicy berries! Of course you can also buy berries if you haven’t the opportunity to get them yourself.
2. Whatever you have, thoroughly wash the blackberries, soaking them in a colander to get any unwanted dirt, stems, leaves, or bugs off them. Discard anything mushy or musty looking.
3. Drain and gently dry the berries and put them in a large wide bottom pot. Ideally they shouldn’t be more than half-way up the pot as you want lots of space for it to bubble a little.
4. Mash them up a little with a potato masher or the back of a large spoon to release the juices and make them cook a little easier
5. Sprinkle with the sugar and leave them overnight. This helps the sugar to dissolve quicker.
6. The next day, sterilize your jars by washing them and the lids in hot, soapy water. Rinse and put them on a clean baking dray ,and put them in a preheated oven at 150°C/300F for 10-15 min. The jars should be just from the oven and still warm when you pour in your hot jam.
7. Add the lemon juice to the berry-and-sugar mix and bring it all to the boil. Make sure to stir constantly and carefully for 15 mins or so! It’s easy to get a burn from hot, bubbling fruit and if you slack off on the stirring, your hard-won fruit could stick and burn.
8. After 15 mins, your mix should be near setting consistency. If you want to be careful about it, you can use a sugar thermometer. It's ready when it reaches 105°C/221°F. You can also check the consistency on a chilled spoon or saucer. The jam should wrinkle but not be hard. Full disclosure, we are never too careful about it… a runny jam kept in the fridge is still tasty!
9. Take off the heat when it is at the consistency you like. Don't wait too long as if you overcook it, the jam might lose some of the bright flavors from the berries.
10. Carefully ladle the jam into your warm jars, filling them close to the top. Cap with a circle of wax paper before putting on the lid tightly once they have cooled slightly. Store them in a cool, dry place until you are ready to eat them… which is never long in our house!

Feeling inspired?

Will you be out looking for berries after all that? Let us know in the comments below how you get on! And remember you have until September 29th, or if you prefer October 31st, to get out and get picking! And if you don’t fancy all the scrapes you could always celebrate the reverence for native Irish plants like the blackberry with a beautiful piece of our Tree of Life jewelry.