John Myers
Blackberries taste best warm in the sun and fresh from the bush. Now the blackberries are in season. We explain how to recognize ripe blackberries and how best to store the sensitive fruit.
Harvest time for the first blackberries starts in July and lasts until September, sometimes even until October. The blackberries are real vitamin bombs: They contain lots of healthy nutrients such as vitamins A, C, and E, as well as a lot of calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
Berries are generally among the foods with the highest content of antioxidants, the deep black blackberries contain a particularly large number. Antioxidants are important to fight free radicals in the body. The berries also contain little sugar and are rich in fiber.
If you pick blackberries in your garden at home, along the side of the road (not near the road or on dog walk routes) or in the field, you should make sure that you only harvest ripe fruit. Because once the blackberries have been harvested, they no longer ripen. Ripe and sweet fruits are easy to pick and practically fall into your hand.
Blackberries are very juicy and soft – and therefore prone to bruising. You should be particularly careful when storing the berries:
Storing blackberries – tips and tricks
It is best to eat blackberries immediately after picking them or on the day you buy them. If that’s not possible, you can also store the delicate berries in the fridge for a day or two. At zero degrees, the fruits, which are not sensitive to cold, keep for a week at most.
It is best to store blackberries next to each other with as little contact as possible with the neighboring berries.
Blackberries should not be stored wet in the refrigerator, otherwise, the fruit will spoil quickly and become moldy. It is best to always wash blackberries before eating.
If the berries start to get moldy, you should discard them.
Blackberries are easy to freeze: the berries can be stored in the freezer for up to twelve months. To avoid frost damage, the blackberries should be dry before freezing.
How to recognize ripe blackberries
Blackberries that are not yet ripe can taste very sour. Since blackberries do not ripen later, you should not pick them too early or buy them when they are unripe.
Ripe blackberries are blue-black in color and soft to the touch.
Green spots are a sign that the berries are not quite ripe yet.
Fresh berries have a matte shimmer.
Freshly picked blackberries are particularly tasty – for example in muesli. They are also suitable for smoothies and yoghurts and as a cake and tart topping.
Blackberries in the garden
Blackberries are extremely frugal and robust plants. They are happy about a sunny spot, but can also be content with a place in the semi-shade. The blackberry bush has no special demands on the soil. However, he does not get waterlogged at all.
If you want to plant blackberries, autumn is the best time of year. Shrubs that you plant in September or autumn will sprout in the coming spring.
In order to be able to harvest fresh berries for as long as possible, you should combine different varieties. Early varieties include ‘Loch Tay’ and ‘Loch Ness’. With the “Navaho” and “Asterina” varieties, the harvest season ends in October.
After harvesting, you should largely cut away the worn tendrils. Only four to five young rods should be tied to the trellis. So-called stingy shoots develop on the new tendrils in the armpits. These shoots are best cut back to three to four eyes – about 15 to 20 centimeters, explains the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture (LWG).
