Blackberries

Conservative estimates state that there are over 200 varieties of blackberry; Blackberries are from the Rose family and virtually indistinguishable from the dewberry and the raspberry. The main difference between them is that blackberries are larger and grow on a thorny upright bush, while the dewberry bush trails. There is also another sure test. When a blackberry is picked, it comes off the plant with its receptacle. The receptacle is the solid center to which the drupelets cling. When a raspberry is picked, the receptacle remains on the bush; and the berry is hollow inside.

Blackberries are in season from July to the first part of October. They are black, long and slender, with hard seeds and very tasty. They are cultivated, but also grow in the wild. Blackberries have 84 calories per cup, and are full of potassium, Vitamin A and C and also have 46 mg of calcium per cup and rich in dietary fiber.

The ancient Greeks prized them as much for the medicinal properties of their leaves as for the fruit. Blackberries contain the soluble red anthocyanin pigments that leech out and stain everything blue. Adding lemon juice to a pie, for example, stabilizes these pigments, and is a practical way of keeping the berries their original color.

• Blackberry is a small round fruit that grows on a flowering shrub or a trailing vine. Blackberries may be black, dark red, or yellow.
• Each blackberry consists of a cluster of tiny fruits called drupelets, which grow around a core known as the receptacle.
• Blackberries are often confused with black raspberries. But the receptacles of blackberries, unlike those of black raspberries and other raspberries, are eaten with the rest of the fruit.
• Blackberries are eaten fresh or are processed for use in making jam, jelly, pies, preserves, and wine.
• Growers produce blackberry plants by cutting 6-inch sections from blackberry roots and burying them in loose loam. The roots are placed in rows about 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters) apart to ensure proper development of the fruit. Growers plant the root sections in early spring, and only fruitless stems develop during the first growing season. Fruit production starts the next year and reaches its peak in the fourth or fifth years.
• Most blackberry plants live 15 to 20 years.
• Blackberries to be sold as fresh fruit are harvested by hand. Those to be sold for processing are harvested by machines that shake the fruit from the bush. More than 90 percent of the blackberries grown commercially in the US are sold for processing.
• Blackberry plants require special care to produce large crops of fruit. For example, growers prune the plants regularly.

Blackberry cobbler makes an excellent dessert!