But, in late summer-early fall, who can hate? We eat a ton of berries in this house, and when it comes to our blackberries: no annoying little plastic boxes to recycle/reuse... no money handed over. Happy berry city.
Normally I wouldn't carry on and brag so much about what we're growing out back. But, let me be clear: we're NOT growing these berries. I never planted them. These invasive brambles cover most of this part of San Francisco, and they'd take over our yard if given a fraction of a chance.
Fall may be easing in around these parts, but blackberries are still coming strong. Some are so high up that I could never reach them. To the birds with you!
For these we can reach, we eat them out back, on the way inside, at meals. We've been freezing them in big batches. My only beef with blackberries is the high seed-to-good stuff ratio. Crunch, crunch.
So, recently, I busted out a good strainer, some sugar and made a nice batch of blackberry syrup for pancakes. YUM! So easy, so good. Jacky doesn't usually get much sugar in my kitchen, but this was a worthy indulgence. He likey.
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Easy Blackberry Syrup
Most recipes call for a way higher sugar-to-fruit ratio (like 1:1), but that seems insane to me. So, my syrup is more fruity than tooth-achingly sweet.
1.5 lbs blackberries, picked over and washed
1 c. sugar
1 strip of lemon peel (optional)
Place all ingredients in a heavy-bottom pot and bring to a boil. Continue cooking for a few minutes until slightly thicker. Dump into a fine-mesh strainer, placed over a bowl. Allow liquid to strain out, then push any remaining liquid through mesh with a spoon. Discard solids and bottle up syrup in clean glass jars or pitchers. Store in fridge.
Serve on pancakes, waffles, etc... or stir into drinks!
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Posts
oooh, so fun!!!! This would be a fun gift to give. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteBragging?! Hardly. I'm even MORE jealous that they are growing on their own. :)
ReplyDelete