How to Forage, Harvest and Use Wild Blackberry

Wild blackberry can be found in fields and sunny locations throughout the United states. They bare fruit June through September yielding a forager's paradise. Blackberry can be eaten alone, or used to make jam, cobbler, smoothies, wine, tea, or used in salads.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Long pants
• Closed toed shoes
• A basket or pail to carry the wild blackberries
• Weed identification book (optional)
• Bug spray (optional)

1. Wild Blackberries

   What You Need

   You should always wear long pants when foraging for blackberries. Blackberry brambles are very thorny! Wear closed toe shoes as well. Take a pail or basket to hold your blackberry harvest. Also, if you are inexperienced at identifying blackberries, take an experienced forager, or a weed identification book.

2. Identification

   Wild blackberry brambles are short shoots or shrubs with thorns. The brambles typically arch a bit and can grow in very close clusters or sometimes grow in a more spread out pattern. The brambles that are well spread are easier to pick from, as it is easier to avoid the thorny brambles while picking. The leaves have jagged edges and thorns on them as well. Wild blackberries flower from April to July. The leaves appear to turn up at the edges making them easier to identify in a field.

3. Caring for your Wild Blackberries

   In the Midwest, blackberry brambles will literally take over a field if they are not controlled. If you have a location where wild blackberries grow and spread easily, you can take advantage of this by keeping livestock away from the blackberries. In the fall mow rows through the blackberry brambles to make them easier to harvest from the following summer. Simply making your way through the thorny brambles to the wild blackberries is the biggest challenge, and making rows through your blackberries will make it easier to reach them all.

4. Uses and Recipes

   Wild blackberries can be eaten alone or in salads. They are also used to prepare a variety of recipes including: jam, cobbler, pie, smoothies, wine, and tea. Blackberry pie is by far the most popular recipes.

   Blackberry leaves can also be used to make tea by drying the leaves and steeping 2 teaspoons of the crushed leaves in 1 cup of boiling water for 15 minutes. As with most wildly foraged fruits and vegetables, blackberries are very nutritious!