The long wet spring has given an early blackberry crop. Walking the dogs and lo! canes with a bunch of ripe berries a couple weeks earlier than usual over at the park. I stopped and picked a few, and I'll go back later to collect more.
Fresh blackberries, for all the invasive, pain-in-the-ass of the Himalayan sort locally, taste really good. And with a few quarts stashed away in the freezer, come mid-winter they make great pies, or a kind of black-skillet oven dish we call "blackberry wheat-thing."
Also blackberry liquor, when you mix 'em with vodka, brandy, and some sugar and stuff, let it sit for a few weeks, then strain it ...
Mmm.
4 comments:
I rmember picking them wild as a kid. I don't know that my kids will get that chance but we'll try.
What's the recipe for the Blackberry booze? That sounds nice...
It also makes a really nice wine. Excellent flavor like summer in a bottle. Clarifies easily.
I can't lay my hands on the recipe book at the moment -- my wife has scores of cookbooks spread out all over the house. My memory is that it needs two cups of vodka, a cup of brandy, some lemon juice and zest, a half cup of sugar, and two cups of blackberries. You mash up the blackberries, then the mix goes into a big jar, put in a dark closet, stirred or shaken every few days for two to four weeks.
The mix is strained, allowed to sit for another day or two, then strained again through cheesecloth. You can repeat this for clarity if you like.
Bottle it, cork it, and there you go.
You can use other ripe fruit, strawberries or apples or even herbs. We've tried peaches and apples, but we like the blackberry the best. A cordial after dinner or a bit over ice cream ...
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