99 Station Street

The blackberry is one of the real gems of the hedgerow, up there with the sloe. Like any fruit, too much water can produce a soft tasteless berry and too little, will prevent them reaching their potential. It has a great range of use and is easily available to anybody willing to forage.

There are three safety points that need to be in mind when you go blackberry picking; brambles are sharp, always wash what you pick, watch out for cars. The good news about brambles, if they are yours, is that they can be cut back drastically after the blackcurrant harvest and they will stay down for most of the year.

After the picking, you have plenty of choices of what to do with your fruit. Blackberry gin, crumble, jam or a rich sauce to go with game, goose or duck. Some of you will have spotted that last sentence and asking why goose and game are not game. My definition of game is wild but the majority of goose and duck are farmed.

If you want to go a stage further with the sauce, you could sieve it and spoon, warm, over ice cream.