When my sister was here we went blackberry picking on the heath behind the site. The combination of sun and rain this year have connived to produce perfect conditions for blackberries and they have ripened earlier than usual. We all picked furiously except Anaia who stayed behind to make sure the cats didn’t get up to mischief. Of course the dogs came too and we used the fruits of our labour to make ice-cream. See below for recipe…..
And what did we do with all the blackberries? Well we froze some to make hedgerow jelly later when there is more time and we made blackberry puree with the rest. I gently cooked some of the blackberries with a little water and sugar then pushed it through a sieve, before heating it some more to thicken it slightly. I then cooled it before using it to make Blackberry Ripple Icecream: simply layer blackberry puree with vanilla icecream – delicious. I use this recipe.
N.B. Anaia came up with an excellent idea for using up the rest of the blackberry puree – dip strawberries into it – this was even more delicious!
smallholding dreams 
I will have to try that, sounds yum
Think we will have to try this. We’ve been exploring blackberry stuff more this year. Didn’t pick them of course but did get them at the tailgate markets so close. Didn’t know you have little kids in your life. How fun to see everyone working together to fight those sharp barbs to get at the oh so wonderful fruits. Thanks for the photos.
I generally just use blackberries in apple crumble or hedgerow jelly so it is good to find another use for them. I once made blackberry sorbet with them – it was OK with some apple crumble, but to be honest vanilla icecream is nicer!
Next trip, I’m timing it for berry picking season!!
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