Blackberries have long been a staple of the Southern table. Many of us grew up picking wild blackberries, growing along the side of the road or along the edges of fields.
Free for the picking and gloriously sweet when warmed by the summer sun, they were the taste of summer where I grew up in North Florida. Blackberries are not a fruit restricted to rural areas, and I picked them in a large undeveloped lot off one of the busiest streets in the area. I guess the birds had been there before, enjoying the berries and inadvertently planting a large patch for us kids to enjoy.
Denise Burns of Burns Best Farm in Ringgold remembers putting herself through summer camp by picking wild blackberries. “Georgia is covered up with wild blackberries, which tend to be small and grow on bushes that are prickly and itchy to get to. My mother would buy all I could pick and make jam or cobbler,” she told me.
Now blackberries are one of the fruits Burns grows to sell at the Marietta Square and Sandy Springs farmers markets. This is her sixth summer selling at the markets, and she takes along her seasonal fruit and vegetable offerings along with forested pork, heritage breeds of pig that live in the wooded section of her farm where they root around for acorns and nuts and the other things pigs love to eat.
The blackberries she grows on the farm are a far cry from those small wild berries she picked as a child. The plants grow more upright and take to trellising, which makes them far easier to pick. The berries grow larger, so large that one variety she grows, ‘Kiowa’, can get to be as big as your thumb. She also grows ‘Triple Crown’, a smaller, later variety with a deep, rich flavor.
The Fourth of July is prime blackberry time, depending on rain, heat and humidity of course. Up in Ringgold, she’s been picking blackberries since the middle of June, and if the weather cooperates, she hopes to have fresh fruit available until the end of July.
“Blackberries are more persnickety to grow than blueberries. Farming organically like we do, the plants can be susceptible to diseases and fungus that don’t bother blueberries. Our plants may only bear for eight to 10 years,” Burns said.
That means blackberries are more of a luxury item, and a pint may cost a little more than a pint of blueberries.
“At the market, our customers look forward to the blackberries. Moms will buy a pint, and the kids start snacking on them right away. When you buy a freshly harvested local berry, it’s exponentially more flavorful than anything from a farm far away,” said Burns.
With the imperfect fruit that she doesn't take to market, Burns makes jelly and she makes cobbler. “And I’ve been searching for a fabulous recipe I saw about three years ago, a blackberry lemonade served over crushed ice. It was just phenomenal,” she said. Cooking those imperfect blackberries down for juice gives her options for summer drinks or jelly.
If you can resist eating your pint of blackberries before you get them home, don’t wash them until you’re ready to use them. Refrigerate them if you won’t be eating them on the same day. Ideally, store them in a colander so air can circulate around them. When you're ready to eat them, remove them from the refrigerator at least an hour early so they can come to room temperature and will be more flavorful. One pint of blackberries will yield 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fruit, depending on the size of the berries.
At local farmers markets
Cooking demos
6 p.m. Thursday, July 7. Chef Seth Freedman, Ruby Root Connections. East Atlanta Village Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.farmeav.com
9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 9. Chef Hector Santiago, Pura Vida, working with blackberries. Morningside Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.morningsidemarket.com
10 a.m. Saturday, July 9. Chef Drew Belline, No. 246. Peachtree Road Farmers Market, Atlanta. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
For sale
Vegetables and fruit: beans, beets, blackberries, blueberries, carrots, chard, collards, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, field peas, garlic, herbs, kale, leeks, lettuce, okra, onions, peaches, pea shoots, peppers, potatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips
From local reports
Naked Blackberries With Cuajada
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes plus cooling time
Serves: 4
Chef Hector Santiago of Pura Vida in Atlanta’s Poncey-Highland neighborhood demonstrated this recipe last year at the Morningside Farmers Market. He was inspired to create a dessert that would combine the height of summer flavors of blackberries and corn with a little sweet milk and use little or no heat in the process. Cuajada is a traditional Nicaraguan dessert. He’ll be demonstrating a different blackberry recipe this weekend at the Morningside market.
Xanthan gum is available at natural foods stores and is frequently used in gluten-free baking and to keep salad dressings from separating. Here it makes a light glossy sauce for the blackberries without heating them up. If you can’t find it, dissolve 1 teaspoon gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water, then heat in the microwave for 30 seconds or long enough to soften the gelatin. Allow to cool before stirring into the blackberries.
Vegetable rennet is available at shops that specialize in cheese-making supplies, such as Wine Craft of Atlanta in Sandy Springs. If you can’t find vegetable rennet, you can substitute a cornstarch-thickened milk pudding for a similar result.
1 pint blackberries, washed
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, or to taste
Salt
Pinch xanthan gum
8 drops vegetable rennet
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup corn flakes
4 leaves lemon verbena, thinly sliced, optional, for garnish
In a small bowl, combine blackberries, sugar and a pinch of salt; let stand until blackberries sweat a little juice. Taste for sweetness. Can be done up to 1 day in advance. When ready to serve: Using a fine strainer, sprinkle the xanthan gum evenly over blackberries. Allow to sit for a few minutes, then toss the berries to evenly coat with sauce.
Make the cuajada by adding 2 drops of vegetable rennet to each of 4 (6-ounce) ramekins. Taste your milk. If you’d like to heighten the sweetness, add a little sugar. Bring milk to 100 degrees by heating it in the microwave in 10-second bursts until it reaches the correct temperature. Divide milk evenly between ramekins. Mixture will slightly thicken. Cover ramekins tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
When ready to serve, divide blackberries evenly between ramekins, and top with corn flakes and lemon verbena leaves. Serve immediately.
Per serving: 98 calories (percent of calories from fat, 21), 3 grams protein, 17 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 2 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 8 milligrams cholesterol, 49 milligrams sodium.
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