3 ms·
I have childhood memories of going into the woods around the park to pick blackberries. The flavors to be found in good blackberries are pretty sublime. The oth
by stcredzero 8y ago
I have childhood memories of going into the woods around the park to pick blackberries. The flavors to be found in good blackberries are pretty sublime. The other day, I bought a container of blackberries. Somehow, they had been reduced to bloated, flavorless bags of purple sugar water. (I suspect this is why they were a sale item.)
Altering plants for better taste does have a place.
- 2trill2spill 8y agoYea Blackberries to me are the definition of hit or miss, They are either bland and bitter or absolutely delicious with little middle ground.
- dcbadacd 8y agoSpeaking of [color]berries, have you trued blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants?
- woobar 8y agoCurrants are [mostly] unknown in the USA. Biggest reason is the ban on black currants cultivation from a 100 years ago. I don't care much for fresh red or white currants (they are good in jams though), but black currant is something I really miss here.
- mrob 8y agoThe reason for that ban is that currant plants can spread white pine blister rust[0], which American pine trees have little resistance to. However, plant breeders are working on resistant strains of blackcurrant and pine tree, and the ban is decided by individual states, so it's not impossible to get blackcurrants in the US. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronartium_ribicola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronartium_ribicola
- ip26 8y agoThere are many other varieties of currant, many native and thus easy to grow.
- WillPostForFood 8y agoNovember is months past blackberry season, so you are probably buying something picked far away, before it was properly ripened, then chilled and placed in a shipping container for who knows how long.
- ip26 8y agoBuying produce regularly, I've been learning exactly this. It's a mindset shift- we're trained that anything can be had any time of year. But the quality difference between in season and out of season is staggering. Except, perhaps, for apples and bananas.
- jxramos 8y agoExactly, those ones in the woods are superior. I think the loss from premature picking and abuse during transit just reeks havoc on berries in general. I wound up getting a cutting of a wild blackberry and planted it in the yard. It's a wild thing that must be tamed and pruned regularly but its worth it.
- masonic 8y agoThere are wild blackberries throughout California's Central coast regions.