blackberry jelly

[iowabow]

I am a country boy at heart.  When I was 8 I picked blackberries for my mom.  I got 15 cents a cup, she would take theses berries and make jam, jelly, pies, and other desserts.  Good memories of growing up.   We were lucky to live on the edge of a swamp where you could run free and trap, hunt or just explore.  Anyway when I bought my land there were blackberries in the middle of where I built my house.  I had written into the contrat when the house was built that the patch was not to be disturbed and it is still producing berries to this day.  This blackberry patch happens to be one of the best in the area, and will produce enough berries to make jelly that will last a year. Well here in southern Iowa the berries are all most ready.

[nclonghunter]

My neighbor is making blackberry jelly from a bush that produces thumb size berries. She was kind enough to give us a small jar the other day. It did not last long and she requested her jar returned when empty. I wonder if she would notice I returned a little bit larger jar, should she feel inclined to refill it..

[iowabow]

These berries are great the deer don't touch them because of the thorns.   I would take her back the jar and set of cans with lids.  That jelly is so good I have to store it out of reach from kids and family that want to walk off with a jar.

[seabass]

this thread brings me back.i don't get the jam anymore.grampa died and grandma is 80.grampa was the jam maker.i do have to go to grannys this evening and pick a million rows of halfrunners.she will be canning them all week.whats cool is,even at 80 she still insists on picking some beans.gotta love her.

[JW_Halverson]

I remember when I was about 15 and visiting family out in Kelso, WA I had the opportunity to eat blackberries until I was satisfied.  When was the last time you saw a 15 year old done eating?!?!  *urp*

I love those things, too much for them to make it to the kitchen to become jelly or jam,. 

[Stingray45]

I'm envious of that patch. I remember growing up going to my grand parents and walking through the woods with my brother and grandma picking milk jugs full of blackberries and then coming back to have her make us blackberry cobbler. We have some land I used to hunt that had a HUGE blackberry field on it. I'm talking a good 100-150 yards long by about 40 or 50 yards wide, full of blackberries. Until of course the gas company had to come through to get to their pipeline and cut half the field down for the right of way. So ok it sux but we still got half a field, still enough for my family and aunts and uncles to get plenty of berries. Until the following year where they cut the other half down, because apparently the other part they cut down wasn't big enough. Bushes haven't come back in the 2 or 3 years since.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I love the taste of black berries but hate the little seeds. If the jelly has the seeds strained out it's real good, but if the seeds are left in it I won't touch it.
My brother's father in law makes his own wine every year and the blackberry wine is some of the best and extremely potent! Right next to the red clover wine which tastes more like grain alcohol and akin to taking a shot of gin or vodka. Yeeee Haaaaa! 

[jham]

Here is a funny blackberry story for you, last year my mom had a container of blackberry juice in the refrigerator and I grabbed it thinking it was grape juice. Took a big old gulp! let me tell you its nothing like grape juice! wouldnt have been bad if it had a little sweetener or something, not really sure. But let me tell you I realized quick it wasnt grape juice!

[iowabow]

The hearvest begins.  You can alway tell when it is time to start picking the berries because the cardinals start robbing the patch.  This is my son going at it hard.