Blackberry time!

It's finally one of my favorite times of year - Blackberry season!  Living in Vancouver, blackberries are plentiful in most of our parks and waiting to be picked, you just need to catch that perfect window between late August and early September as the prime time can be as short as two weeks.  Somewhere along the line, I even made the decision that blackberries are the one food I never buy - I wait and watch (the anticipation makes them even more delicious).  After a couple cautionary samples, if the time is right, we head out to our favorite patch and pick our fill.  If time allows and the scratches are healed,  we head to another patch another day and repeat.

If you've never taken part in this yearly tradition, it's a great way to spend a sunny day in the park and come away with free food.  This year, we even saw an apple tree growing out of the middle of a blackberry bush - how's that for intimidating fruit picking?  (we were focused on the berries, but helped a dad get a good pie's worth for his kids with minimal lacerations).  Here's a few tips to get the most out of your picking party.

Location:

- the wilder the better.  Blackberry bushes are a gnarly beast and the more groomed a park is, the less berries will be there.  Shoreline areas and nature preserves are great.  Anywhere nature is allowed to run amok, blackberries will be thriving.

- pick a bush with lots of sun exposure. The best ones are often shielded by a leaf, but they need the warmth to bring out the sweetness.

Equipment:

- old pants and a long sleeve shirt that are ok to get some stains and prick - holes.  I break this rule constantly, but accept the scratches as a necessary evil.  The best berries are always high or deep in the bush.  They may be free, but there's still a price to pay - pants and a long sleeve shirt are like a coupon.

- ice cream buckets or plastic bags.  Buckets are the best as they don't leak, but bags are better if you are moving from bush to bush on a bike.  Bags are also good for tucking in a pocket if you happen to be going to a park where you aren't sure if there will be berries, if they will be ripe, or you may only have a couple minutes for picking.  Buckets are for when you mean business and you know the timing is perfect - less squishing of ripe berries and no juice leakage.

- two good sized sticks.  In a good wild park, you can find them easily enough among driftwood or forest scraps.  When all the easily reachable berries are picked, lay the sticks across the thorns in an "X" or "T" formation and step on the top stick to press the thorns down an clear a path.

- sunscreen.  You picked a sunny bush remember?

Technique:

- pick the ripe ones.  If you found a good bush, there's plenty for everyone, so be selective and get the sweet ones (sour berries make for sour pie)- the others will be ripe tomorrow for the next pickers.  The good blackberries are a bit soft to the touch, shiny, and come away from the bush easily - better test one to be sure.  This is important early in the season.  Don't go out and pick a bush silly just because the berries are black, if they aren't ripe yet, all you did was thin out the crop - wait for it.

- pick above the waist.  File this along with "don't eat yellow snow".  Dogs, animals and merry park-goers may have been by earlier to water the bush.  These branches are the ones you usually end up stepping down on anyway, so no loss.

- wash the berries when you get home before cooking or eating. This washes out he little "hairs" on the berries and any of the little bugs that hitched a ride home in your bucket.