Last year, our plan was that when we got back from vacation up north, we would then make a trip down to my parent’s place to pick blackberries. There are several huge patches of wild berries there, but as most of you know, that plan, and our lives in general, got thrown for a bit of a loop. This year though, we made it down to their home in Red Wing and picked.
First day we got there in the evening and everyone participated. Even the dog and the baby got into it, though their interests were centered on eating. The dog knocked them off the branches and then scavenged them off the ground. Baby Vi just ate them out of the bowls we used for picking.
The patch in the middle of the field, which is there due to my dumping a gallon of seeds mixed with water in a long line about 6 years ago, is absolutely loaded with berries, and still a lot of unripe ones yet to come as well.
Plants vary from only 10% ripe, to 90% ripe, so we plan on getting back there in a few days to pick again.
Those two bowls represent me and Patti picking by ourselves for abut an hour and a half.
So, two days of picking here and there added up to about 4.5 gallons of whole berries.
Once through the blender, they go into the tomato seeder.
After going through the seeder you have a deep red ketchup consistency mixture of juice and pulp …
and the seeds are left behind in the mill.
It takes a while, but I worked through it all, trying not to make too much of a mess of my mom’s nice counters.
In the end all those berries became 2 full gallons of pulp, and a huge bowl of seeds which I did not save. The pulp will become syrup and jelly which I hope I get done tonight.
