INSIDE

Ode to blackberries

By Meg Olson

“Lots of berries. Lots,” is how Isabell MacDonald sums up this year’s blackberry crop. After a little over half an hour in almost the same spot along the path connecting the marina to Lighthouse Marine Park, MacDonald had herself a gallon of juicy, ripe berries and was heading home to make pie.

“There’s a wonderful recipe for pie in the Point Roberts cookbook,” she said.

Whether it was more rain, or a warmer spring, it’s produced a bumper crop of what some consider the official fruit of Point Roberts and others consider an aggressive weed: blackberries.

Blackberry enthusiasts will tell you that the berries are not only delicious but healthy – rich in manganese, tannins and antioxidants they’ve been used by German grannies to calm sore throats and some scientists are now investigating whether they can help treat cancer.
A hefty percentage of the Point’s roadsides, trails, vacant lots and backyards are home to the thorny invasive vines that produce the berries from late July to October. The marina trail starting at the foot of Tyee Drive is so lined with ripe berries that on a hot day it smells like strolling through a jam factory. Gulf and Benson roads also have some rich picking spots.

While it’s easy to pick a gallon or two this time of year it can be harder to use them all up before they go bad. Blackberries are some of the most delicate berries and will either mold or melt in a day or two. It’s best to freeze or cook a substantial harvest the day you pick it, keeping only a bowl of berries in the fridge for sprinkling on breakfast cereal or drizzling with balsamic vinegar on top of a simple green salad at dinnertime.

Blackberries make good jam, though some prefer to make jelly because they are a seedy berry. The berries are low in pectin so you’ll need to add some to get the jam or jelly to gel – commercial pectin is available but a chopped up green apple or a few underripe berries often do the trick. If you’re making jelly it doesn’t really matter if the juice gels up – pancake syrup. Blackberries also store well soaked in brandy or vodka, or frozen on a cookie tray and packed in bags in the freezer.

Besides popping them in your mouth, the simplest and perhaps most delicious way to enjoy the berries may be a blackberry crumble or cobbler – just a pile of sugared berries covered with a crust. They can also be found in recipes for muffins, cakes, pies and savory dishes like pork tenderloin with port and blackberry sauce.

Oh! My! Blackberry Pie!
To be served with maple whipped cream

Crust:
1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbles
(make these in the blender)
2 tbsps. granulated sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Filling:
2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. cold water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 cups fresh berries
1 tbsp. lemon juice

In a small bowl combine cookie crumbs with suger. Stir in butter until moistened. Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a pie plate or porcelain dish. Bake in a 375º oven for eight minutes. Cool on rack.
In a medium saucepan mix cornstarch with water. Add sugar and half a cup of berries and bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly for one to two minutes until very thick and clear. Remove from heat. Add remaining berries and lemon juice. Pour into piecrust and refrigerate until set.

To make Maple whipped cream beat half a cup of whipping cream with two tablespoons of maple syrup until stiff and store in refrigerator.
(Recipe by Davea Fisher as featured in The Point is Cooking cookbook produced by the Point Roberts Dollars for Scholars.)