For the Love of Berries

For some of you, this may be an extremely boring post.  For me, it's not because it's all about berries and I love berries.  They are, hands down, my favorite fruit.  Five kinds grow on our property- strawberries (planted by us), mulberries (the tree was here), red raspberries (we transplanted "Heritage" shoots from friends which yield twice a year), black raspberries (grow and spread wild), and wine berries (grow and spread wild).  The only berries we're missing, as far as I'm concerned, are blueberries.  The second year we lived here, we planted about five bushes and they all promptly died.  We've since learned that they often take a little bit more soil prep that we initially thought.  In a year or two, we may be ready to give them another go.

Since our strawberry harvest was on the very small side this year (we only had enough to eat them fresh and make a couple desserts), we are thrilled that our other berries seem to be doing very well.  We've had lots of rain and berries love rain.

Red raspberry, black raspberry, wine berry.

Every other day, I head outside with two pint containers and pick.  Right now, the mulberries and black raspberries are fading out and the wine berries and red raspberries and just ripening.  I don't divide out the berries, I just fill my containers with whatever I'm picking.  One container goes into the freezer and the other into the fridge for eating fresh or adding to (or on top of) baked oatmeal.  If our kids didn't "help" pick, we'd probably have twice as many to freeze.  Miriam is willing to go deep into the prickery bushes for even half ripe berries.

I don't wash the berries prior to freezing.  We don't spray and I'm careful to pick out any ants or little inch worms that find their way in with the berries.  Not washing them allows the berries to stay nicely separated even while frozen, so it's easy to spoon out a cup or so here or there without having to use all of them at once.  I know some folks like to freeze their berries on cookie sheets first for this purpose, but mine stay separated well enough without this added step.

 

Red raspberries, wine berries (not quite ripe, the berries are under those fuzzy covers which will open to expose the ripe fruit).

We use the frozen berries in muffins, pancakes, homemade ice cream, to decorate birthday cakes, in cheese cake, in cake, in cobblers, crisps (apple or peach), baked oatmeal, jello salad, you name it.  They are bits of heavenly sunshine in the middle of winter and I will never, ever, ever get enough.

Unfortunately for you, this means I probably won't ever stop talking about them.