Blackberries from the Hedgerow

One of the true great joys of late summer and autumn - blackberries!  It is worth all the scratches from the brambles to get at the fruit.  Last week I went out hacking back the nettles and checking the hedges around a couple of fields near home, getting well and truly scratched and stung so I could have enough for a nice big bowl of perfect blackberries.

When we were in Poland in August the blackberries were just finishing, and their brambles are a different variety to ours - not so widespread and rampant, and not half so tough and prickly. Our brambles are complete thugs compared to theirs, and the fruit starts to ripen about a month after theirs have finished.  The fruit here will keep on going for a few weeks.  I could stock the freezer if it weren't already full.

And because the freezer was full, I had to make jam straight away.  So here's the video if you want to give it a try.

Linking up today with Liz's blog Brambleberry Cottage (how appropriate) for Time Travel Thursday so you can see lots of other projects, including recipes..