Hello, my lovely green planeters, welcome back to my second blog, I hope you’re found my first blog interesting and you learnt a little bit more about myself and how Green Planet Living was started and set up.
With this being my second blog and given that today (12th September) is national blackberry day I could not resist talking a bit about these tasty little fruits which line our roadsides at this time of the year, there are certainly a lot of them around where I am in Ticehurst, in particular there is a massive blackberry bush just at the entrance of the allotments which is handy for warding off unwanted visitors.
Obviously as I write this I have my berries and bay candle burning in my office, this gorgeous little candle is pretty new to my collection it only launched a few months ago, it comes in a soy wax candle, my candles are super long lasting and each amber vessel will give you roughly 35 wonderful burning hours, never fear however if candles are not your thing then then head over to the fragrance page and see what other products this bright fruity fragrance comes in.
So back to blackberries, did you know they are considered to be a superfood, the berries are high in vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants. They help to support a healthy heart and are also pretty low on calories as they are mostly made up of water. I think I read somewhere that they are made of 88% water, so a fab healthy snack assuming you eat them in moderation and not by the bucket! At the moment if I’m not eating cucumbers from the allotment I will often have a little punnet of blackberries sat with me, the perfect little sweet treat to snack on while I’m catching up on my Green Planet Living admin.
So other than eating them as they are what else can you do with blackberries? Well, if you are anything like me, you will be a fan of all things sweet, which means that these fruits are perfect for a multitude of recipes, In the past I have made jam, albeit I do find jam making to be pretty messy . It’s certainly quite time-consuming and it can be quite difficult to get it right. I do have ALOT of pots of jam that has not set properly so it’s more like runny syrup with fruit in it. Perfect for me to use in cake baking, but not so great on your morning toast, unless you want to be covered head to toe in the jam!
One of the things I would recommend you make with blackberries is make a desert, one of my all time favourite desserts is a blackberry and apple crumble. We used to have it as kids in the winter, it’s a really warming autumnal desert and it’s super quick and easy to make as well I use this BBC good food recipe for my blackberry and apple crumble. The only thing I tend to do slightly differently to the recipe is i sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top of the crumble, I find it really adds to the dish, obviously if cinnamon is not your thing then leave it off.
The blackberries I use are always local, there’s loads of them all along the roads around bewl as well as by my allotment so I can often be seen picking some on my dog walks or when I am watering the allotment. I also am a big supporter of using British apples in my crumble. We grow so many varieties of apples in this country, why would you add to your carbon footprint and buy apples that are shipped in from abroad, partially at this time of the year when apple picking season is well underway.
Another way I use these fruits is in smoothies, if I am wanting a smoothie for breakfast I will often add a handful of berries into it. i don’t follow any recipe for smoothies, if I have fruit that needs using then I stick it in the blender, sometimes with a bit of ice cream or some oat milk, smoothies are great ways of using up fruit that’s on the turn.
And finally if you don’t have time to do anything with your blackberries today then I recommend sticking them in the freezer to use at a later date. I find the best way of freezing them is to lay them on a flat non-stick baking tray/sheet one layer thick and freeze, once they are frozen remove them from the tray and bag up, this way the blackberries are loose and won’t freeze in one giant clump, it makes it really easy to grab a handful as and when you want them.
So I hope you have learned a little bit more about blackberries and will have some new ideas of what to do with the berries that adorn our roadsides.
Stay tuned for the next blog which hopefully will be in a couple of weeks time. I haven’t decided what is going to be on yet so do you drop me a message if there is anything in particular you would like me to cover.
Best wishes
