Blackberries

Blackberries

 I'm sure everyone knows of at least two ways to prepare blackberries, so I won't provide any recipes. (Although if you melt vanilla ice cream and gently fold in the blackberries, once refrozen you have blackberry ice cream! Bruising the berries beforehand will release some of the berries' juice, and if folded in to the ice cream gently enough, this will create a raspberry ripple effect.)

Back to my point! Washing freshly picked blackberries can be a bit of a pain, as no matter how thoroughly you think you've washed them, one or two little bugs always seem to crawl out of the nooks!



Here is a tip I came across for getting bug-free berries. It's a good one!

Once picked, spread the blackberries out on a large sheet and leave for 30 minutes (this should provide adequate time for any creepy-crawlies to come to the surface).

Then sprinkle the blackberries with salt. Leave for a few minutes. (This creates a hostile environment for the bugs on the surface. It also draws moisture out of the blackberries, coaxing any remaining bugs out with it.)

After this, place the blackberries in a colander. Place the colander in a bowl and fill with water (the water should just cover the top of the blackberries). Drain the water, shaking gently. Repeat the water immersion process three times.

This should clean your blackberries!



Written By  @AllCraftPixie