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Blackberry
Rubus subg. Rubus · Berry
40 pairings
The blackberry is the dark, glossy aggregate fruit of bramble canes in the genus Rubus, a sweet-tart late-summer berry whose deep purple-black colour comes from anthocyanin pigments. Each "berry" is in fact a tight cluster of tiny juicy drupelets packed around a central core, and it eats with a soft, seedy, winey richness that has made it a hedgerow forager's prize and the backbone of jams, pies, cordials and crumbles across the temperate world.
Picking a good onedrag
Turgid, black, dry punnetSoft, weeping, fuzzed
Shop firmThe all-rounder: raw by the handful, over yoghurt, or baked into a crumble. Four or five days cold if you keep them dry.Everyday best
ColourBlack, a drupelet or two gone red
In the handFirm, gives a little, holds shape
Caps and baseA green cap or two, base still dry
SmellClean, faintly sweet
What to look for, from turgid, black, dry punnet to soft, weeping, fuzzed.
What one gives you
96%
Usable yield
5.8 g · caps and bad berries out
6 g
Typical weight
one specimen
Keeping ittap a band
A domestic fridge holds it about 4× longer than the counter.
Humidity
90-95%
Damp air, dry skin. Never wash before storing: free water on the drupelets is where grey mould takes hold.
Airflow
Vented punnet, never sealed
Keep them in the vented punnet and cool them fast. Sealed in a tub they sweat, and condensation does the work of washing.
Neither ripens to it nor gives it off
Sugar is fixed at picking: no fruit bowl improves them, and they move nothing else along. Ethylene only speeds the grey mould.