Blackberry

Blackberry, the common black berry, not the phone!

Behind the Chapman Habitat, along the bike path in the Summitview Park, there is a patch of wild blackberry (Rubus Species) bush. We knew its existence since last July when we started our routine of walking and biking. Still, it was a surprise when we encountered another biker yesterday, who parked his bike in the roadside and stopped for picking the berries. It was then we found out this year the bush has yielded the best ever ripen blackberries! We went back today to pick up more berries for our before-bed fruit snack.

Wild blackberries are like the ones you buy, but better. Among the best-known berries in America, you can find them wherever you live. The toothed leaves are compound — divided into segments, called leaflets. Since the leaflets, like your fingers, originate from a point rather than a line, the leaves are called palmate-compound. Each leaf usually has 3-7 sharply-toothed leaflets. In the spring, sweet-smelling, white, 5-petaled, radially-symmetrical flowers about as wide as a quarter drape the bushes. The fruit, which ripens from mid-summer to early fall, goes from green to red to black.

Mulberry, also edible, resemble blackberries, but they grow on thornless trees, not thorny canes, in late spring and early summer. We picked those mulberries, too, though the kids lost interest pretty soon. The mulberry is not as sweet as blackberry, kind of mushy, attracts some small insects which is hard to get rid of.

Pick blackberries that come off the bush easily. These are the ripest and tastiest. Eat as is, add to cereal, drinks, pies, cakes, fruit sauces, or fruit salads. Try creating your own blackberry recipes.

Caution: Kids who race recklessly for the best berries often get scratched. Wear old clothes when you collect. The thorns may tear them, and the berries, which are good for dyeing, may stain clothing.

Poison ivy often grows near blackberries, and they looks somewhat similar, but poison ivy always has three leaflets, no teeth on the leaf margins, and no thorns.

THE SONG OF THE BLACKBERRY QUEEN
by Cicely Mary Barker

My berries cluster black and thick
For rich and poor alike to pick.
I’ll tear your dress, and cling, and tease,
And scratch your hand and arms and knees.

I’ll stain your fingers and your face,
And then I’ll laugh at your disgrace.
But when the bramble-jelly’s made,
You’ll find your trouble well repaid.


THE DEVIL AND THE BLACKBERRIES
English Legend

The English tell you never to eat blackberries after early autumn. Here’s why: When the Devil was kicked out of Heaven on October 11, he landed, cursing and screaming, on a thorny blackberry bush.

He avenges himself on the same day every year by spitting on the berries, which makes them inedible. (Some people say he pees on the blackberries!) He avenges himself on the same day every year by peeing on the berries, which makes them unfit for human consumption.

That really hurt!