What's your favorite recipe or use for blackberries?

I'm curious, what are some of your favorite recipes featuring blackberries?

This invasive menace  prized edible  seasonal community feature (however you want to look at this plant) is widespread and abundant, and coming into season now here. What are some of the best ways to make use of, and preserve them?

We love to pick them by the box full and then I cook them down to make juice, and then can jelly with them. I'm thinking about making syrup or blackberry vinegar as well this year.

This blackberry jelly recipe I use is for sure-jell low-sugar pectin.
Supplies needed: Dry measuring cup, liquid measuring cup, large saucepan, ladle, cotton towels, linen or cheesecloth jelly bag, 1 large bowl 1 small bowl, jars, lids and ring seals, canning rack and canner.
Directions:
- Wash and sterilize jars by simmering for 10 minutes while you cook your berries. Cover sterilized jars with clean towel or leave filled with hot water until you are ready to use them.
- Crush berries, place in large saucepan. Add 1 c water and stir. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Place damp linen bag or 3 layers of damp cheesecloth or jelly bag in large bowl. Pour prepared fruit into cheesecloth. Tie or secure and let hang to drip into bowl until dripping stops. Press gently.
- Measure 4 1/2 c juice into 6- or 8-quart stockpot. If necessary add up to 1c water to get up to the required amount of juice (I use a large stockpot and double this amount. 2L+1c of juice makes two batches at once in my 8 quart stockpot, and then I can can them all at once in a full water bath canner. That much juice might boil over a 6 quart pot though?)
- Measure 3 cups of sugar into a bowl, then remove 1/4 c of that sugar to a separate bowl and whisk together with 1 packet low sugar pectin. Set all aside.
- Stir 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and lemon juice to taste into the blackberry juice. Stir in the small bowl of combined sugar and pectin, and add 1/2 tsp. butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired.
- Bring mixture to a full rolling boil.
- Stir in large remaining bowl of sugar. Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Use a metal or wooden slatted spoon to skim off any foam.
- Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids, screw bands finger-tight.
- Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. Water must cover jars by at least 1 inch. Add boiling water, if needed. Cover; boil gently for 5 min. for jellies. or 10 min. for jams, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool completely, check seals by pressing centers of lids with finger, moving any that spring back to the refrigerator.
-Let prepared jars stand at room temperature for 24 hrs. Store unopened jams and jellies in cool, dry, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate opened jams and jellies for 1-2 months.


Blackberry season is short for us, but very sweet - how do you use or preserve these little gems?

I usually make Blackberry Cobbler:

https://permies.com/t/150014/Buckles-Betties-Cobblers-Crisps

I also like to eat blackberries right off the vine.

I also make a infusion so the blackberries provide something that last a long time, years even.

Mine is pretty simple:

5 blackberries, any size.

Insert in mouth!

I love blackberries, thanks for starting this thread.

Loved the abundance of those dark berries when we lived in the Willamette Valley!  Never tried the linked recipe when we lived there, but for our red raspberries and the current hot weather, it has a special place in the freezer compartment:  

Blackberry Sorbet -- https://joyofbaking.com/BlackberrySorbet.html

[Note: We are fine with the larger ice crystals and put up with the excessive amount of sugar for the sake of the sorbet texture.]

Anne Miller wrote:I usually make Blackberry Cobbler:

https://permies.com/t/150014/Buckles-Betties-Cobblers-Crisps

I also like to eat blackberries right off the vine.

I also make a infusion so the blackberries provide something that last a long time, years even.

That cobbler sounds so yummy! I do love to make crisps too.

I'm not experienced with infusing high water-content ingredients like berries. Is there a certain type of infusion you'd recommend trying out?

Dan Fish wrote:Mine is pretty simple:

5 blackberries, any size.

Insert in mouth!

I love blackberries, thanks for starting this thread.

They are better by the handful, aren't they? You're welcome, I confess to being selfishly motivated for some good recipes to try!

John Weiland wrote:Loved the abundance of those dark berries when we lived in the Willamette Valley!  Never tried the linked recipe when we lived there, but for our red raspberries and the current hot weather, it has a special place in the freezer compartment:  

Blackberry Sorbet -- https://joyofbaking.com/BlackberrySorbet.html

[Note: We are fine with the larger ice crystals and put up with the excessive amount of sugar for the sake of the sorbet texture.]

Thank you, this sounds delicious. It is a lot of sugar, but a treat is a treat and moderation is key :) No dairy is a plus for us!

Rebecca Rosa wrote:I'm not experienced with infusing high water-content ingredients like berries. Is there a certain type of infusion you'd recommend trying out?

I have read about folks using recipes and letting the mix take months to make.

I used the Anne Miller Method of just putting the berries in a jar and covering them with alcohol.

My mix is about eight years old and in about 2018 when I had a gout attack, I added lemon balm because my plant died from lack of water.

I refresh the mix every so often to keep everything under the liquid.

I have a blackberry tsunami on the other side of my fence. This year it grew so much that it finally jumped over, which I discovered after cutting down two other bushes.
I decided to plant it around my fish pond, to protect the edge from a tiny human who loves to play with sticks and stones that surround it, sometimes throwing them at the fish.

But I also found interesting tutorials, about blackberry (or raspberry) twine: foragedfibres or basket and also the leaves are believed to be super healthy as a tea.
I just need very hardy gloves now, because the brambles cut through mine terribly, and I have more thorny plants...

When I was a small child, maybe 3 or 4, Grandmother would make blackberry cobbler on the wood cook stove.  Grandfather was a syrup maker so she always used cane syrup.    The berries were put on to boil in water with the cane syrup in it, then she made up biscuit dough, rolled it out thin and cut into strips.  She tore off pieces of that dough and dropped into the boiling liquid.  The smell was divine and I loved it.  I often went out and brought in a small handful of berries and asked, “Is this enough to make a cobbler, Grandma?”  She would laugh and say, “No, not really.  If you can get a few more I’ll make a little one just for you.”  At that age I would always get confused because the berries for jam or jelly needed 1/4 red berries for the natural pectin in them to set, since she did not use store bought pectin.  I would bring in some with red berries for cobbler instead, but she always made do.   I guess she put in a pinch of salt too. Don’t really remember.  Don’t think it had any vanilla or anything else added.  The cane syrup had a fabulous flavor, in my opinion much better than sorghum syrup.