By Allen Hamrick
What is a brambleberry? Brambleberies, as they were once called and in some circles still are, are the berries that grow on thorn laden, bee biting, snake infested brush along roadsides and edges of the woods. These areas are sometimes called a summertime hillbilly picnic area or they a forest salad area. Either way, these areas produce over a hundred types of berries in the USA; locally, its more rasberries and blackberries than any other type. These berries are unmistakeable with their hues of red and black and can stop a berry eater driving 60 miles per hour in their treads. Blackberries are also known as black caps due to the fact that when picked the body of the berry stays in the blackberry while the raspberry stays on the stem.In the older days, grown up areas became the harvest fields for apron wearing women who could turn the berry into some of the finest jam to spread on a biscut. With sweaty kids in tow, they never left a field without at least a couple of gallons of the fruit. Berry pickers lined the old roads where the berry vines hung thick as homecoming mashed potatoes.
A berry picker can get this fruit anytime between June and August during the hottest times of the year. So, it takes people with a strong constitiution to withstand the elements. When they are completely cooked and jarred, nothing beats the all natural taste of a good rasberry. One might ask why waste time picking them if its so tough? These are the most abundant fruit we can eat all summer long; they are easy to find and anyone can tell what they are without worry. It is one fruit that, if you’re a good picker, you can have fruit year round from nature’s supply… you just have to pick them. Picking is an excerise in patience because the berries come off one at a time.
The foods you can make from berries is endless: pies, jams, jellies, smoothies, ice cream syrup and the list goes on. Healthy aspects of raspberries are that they are low in sugar, have
anti-aging antioxidants and are high in fiber. So, if you get the opportunity to do some picking, get out and do some brambling – your health may benefit from the exercise and nutrition of it. One must remember that you’re competiting with all types of birds and beasts for the food, and it’s a jungle out there.
CUTLINE:
pic2- Raspberries are growing in abundance.
