It’s blackberry season, and my parents have a blackberry patch to rival all blackberry patches. They’re delicious, but the little buggers have a ton of seeds in 'em that make 'em hard to use with a lot of recipes. Anyone got any good blackberry recipes? Send 'em on, please!
Two parts blackberries, two parts shaved or crushed ice, one part vodka. Put in blender. Enjoy. 
Otherwise, I just eat 'em plain.
The simple blackberry cobbler/crumble. Wash the berries, add a squeeze of lemon juice and then sugar to taste. Mix it well, and put into a buttered baking dish. Make the topping out of flour, butter, some baking powder, brown sugar, cinnamon and a little salt (find a good recipe); it should be crumbly. Put the topping over the berries, put a little more butter and some sugar on top, and bake until the top is lightly brown.
Can you do jams, or anything?
This is a recipe I just cooked up the other day: blackberries in the alley!
Blackberry sauce for roasted meat*
Handful of sage branches (backyard!)
Deboned duck
2 or 3 med. shallots, chopped fine-ish
bottle of rich dark red wine: I used a Cabernet, but Zinfandel or Shiraz would probably work as well
little bit of honey
Preheat oven to 450F
Pile the sage branches on the bottom of a roasting pan (think of it as the duck’s funeral pyre)
Rub duck meat with salt and pepper; place on the sage pyre.
Place in oven. Immediately reduce to 350F
roast for 15 or 20 minutes; some like their duck rarer than others. Longer of course for pork.
Meanwhile, saute the shallots in a large saute pan.
When meat is done, remove and set aside.
Pull the twiggiest sticks out of the luscious ducky sage, leaving behind the most edible leafy parts.
Deglaze the roasting pan with some of the wine.
Put this yummy slurry, along with the shallots and enough wine to make it workable, into a blender, and puree.
Dump, along with the remainder of the wine, into a saucepan.
Simmer till the volume is reduced by say 2/3.
Just before it’s time to serve, microwave the duck just a tiny bit while you add the blackberries to the sauce just long enough to heat them up. Splash all over the duck and then put it in your mouth and eat it.
*We had duck; I’m going to try it again with duck. It’s a heavy sauce, so I think those meats would be best; might be as good on venison.
I mean I’m going to try it again with pork.
Mmm.
Put them in a bowl, sprinkle some sugar on top, pour some milk on that. Let them sit in the fridge for a bit, until the milk and sugar have mixed with some of the berry juice.
Hmmm… that duck recipe sounds good. I’d have to do it with pork, since duck is gonna be hard to find in my neck of the woods, unless I go kill one myself.
The vodka thing sounds good as well.
Jam and cobbler: Everyone in my family is making jam and cobbler out o’ these berries. I wanted to find something a bit different.
Trust me.
Pick blackberries. Place in refrigerator for later.
Drive to Mt Airy, MD.
Stop at Linganore Vineyards.
Purchase blackberry wine.
Consume.
Repeat as necessary.
Damn, that sounds good. Too bad MD is a gazillion miles away from me.
My parents made blackberry wine for a few years. Never really was that good - too sour and rather watery. Makes a good Sangria, though.
I ended up making blackberry/cream cheese/pecan scones, and some Blackberry Shrub, which is sort of like a blackberry brandy.
There’s a ton more, though, so keep the ideas coming!
That savory sauce might work on salmon, too. Last summer I had some amazing salmon/blackberry dish in Washington state that sounds a bit like the recipe described above.
You’re so lucky, Athena! I have serious berry-envy. Last weekend, I went up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and picked a big mess of blueberries, but I’ve managed to completely mis blackberry season this year.
Just tried the same recipe with black currants off my friend Jenny’s black currant bush, and pork. Mightee tastee.
Just tried the same recipe with black currants off my friend Jenny’s black
currant bush, and pork. Mightee tastee.
Also, if anyone DOES try my duck sauce recipe, please let me know: I’m thinking of putting together some of my most successful experiments and slinging together some kind of cookbooky item.
And if you like that one, I got a million more . . . Just the other day made a roasted fennel/celery root soup that I’m still sighing about.
Just tried the same recipe with black currants off my friend Jenny’s black
currant bush, and pork. Mightee tastee.
Also, if anyone DOES try my duck sauce recipe, please let me know: I’m thinking of putting together some of my most successful experiments and slinging together some kind of cookbooky item.
And if you like that one, I got a million more . . . Just the other day made a roasted fennel/celery root soup that I’m still sighing about.
Mod, please? I got an error message, and so resubmitted.