Blackberries are vigorous growers. Modern varieties and cultivars are derived from native species which are still found growing along roadsides. Blackberries plants vary from trailing to erect to bushy and from thorny to thornless. Some varieties and cultivars are suited for chilly northern regions, others are good growers in warm, southern regions. It is important…
Berries
Freezing Blueberries and Other Berries
Freeze just harvested blueberries and also raspberries, elderberries, currants, huckleberries, blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries, mulberries, and strawberries for thawing and using just as fresh next winter. Freeze blueberries and other berries individually—called dry pack—or in sugar and syrup or unsweetened. Use thawed berries in desserts, in pies and other desserts and in smoothies. You will need…
Berry Harvest Quick Tips
Berries taste their absolute best when left to ripen on the plant, then picked and eaten immediately. Sweetness, aroma, and flavor determine ripeness; berries can reach their peak in a day or two once they begin to mature. Visit plants every day once fruit begins to deepen in color. Taste and smell to decide when…
Blackberries: Kitchen Basics
Blackberry. Brambleberry, dewberry, boysenberry, loganberry, marionberry, olallieberry. Blackberry is the collective name for a large group of fruits in the same genus. Blackberries are also called brambles and brambleberries, particularly in England. The boysenberry, loganberry, marionberry, and ollalieberry are common names for popular blackberry varieties or hybrids ‘Boysen’, ‘Logan’, ‘Marion’, and ‘Olallie’. Dewberries are almost…
Blueberries: Kitchen Basics
When it comes to fresh picking and eating, there are about 30 varieties of blueberry worthy of your attention. These can be divided into three categories: the highbush, the lowbush, and the rabbiteye. Highbush blueberries are the most common blueberries. These are the large, plump and sweet berries with which you are most familiar. Highbush…
Planting Strawberries
If the idea of serving your own fresh-picked strawberries next summer sounds good, spring is the time to get your strawberries growing. Strawberries are a perennial plant which means once you’ve got them in the ground you will have them for two or three years to come. There are two types of strawberries: June-bearing strawberries…
Cranberries: Kitchen Basics
Cranberries with roast pork, beef, chicken, or duck: now that’s tasty! A chunky cranberry sauce takes only a minute or two to prepare and will add zest to the foods it’s paired with. Add cranberries to salads, stuffings, cakes, muffins, pies, and puddings or make them into relishes and jellies. Cranberries are crunchy and tart…
Raspberry Varieties
There are hundreds of varieties of raspberries. Red raspberries are the most common. Yellow or golden raspberries are a mutation of red raspberries. Black raspberries–which are actually blue-black–are more firm and have more seeds than red or yellow raspberries. Purple raspberries are crosses between black and red raspberries. Everberaring (also called fall-bearing) varieties give an…
Raspberries: Kitchen Basics
Raspberries are the most intensely flavored and delicate of berries. The peak season for red raspberries in the Northern Hemisphere is June through September; for the golden or yellow raspberry June through October, and for the black raspberry during July. To best experience the luscious raspberry—many consider it a finer fruit that the strawberry–be sure…
Strawberry: Kitchen Basics
The peak season for flavorful, naturally sweet strawberries is late spring. Local strawberries at the peak of their natural season are most likely to be the tastiest strawberries you will eat all year. Strawberries are perennial herbs that grow in temperate zones all over the world. There are native strawberries in Europe, Central Asia, North America,…
