Berry nice

[offcntr]

I'm still averaging two quarts of blackberries every second day from the patch in our back yard. We've made jam twice, 9 pints total, baked a pie (needed more sugar, but nice with ice cream), and frozen a bunch. What else can I do with this bounty?

Blackberry syrup.

Take a cup of water, a cup of sugar, two cups of berries, mashed. Put in a two-quart sauce pan with a teaspoon of dry pectin and a dab of butter. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cool a little, and run through a sieve to remove the seeds and skins. (I use my balloon whisk to squeeze out as much juice and pulp as possible.

Serve over waffles, pancakes, or vanilla bean ice cream. I'm also gonna try a shot in seltzer water, make my own blackberry soda.

(The plate is by Don Clarke, of Strictly Functional Pottery, by the way.)

Comments

[james]

Mmmmmmmmm.

shrub

[chefxh]

That syrup and a dash of good vinegar, with water or seltzer and ice!

When we lived in Stevenson WA, Kevin made blackberry wine that turned into really nice vinegar.

Re: shrub

[offcntr]

There's a company called California Balsamic that makes fruit flavored balsamic vinegar. In the before times, I'd visit their booth at the Anacortes Arts Festival and stock up. I've got peach, apricot, strawberry and blackberry at the moment. Don't use them much in vinaigrettes (though the peach is pretty nice with fruit salads). Mostly, I mix them with ice and plain seltzer for a not-too-sweet summer beverage.

(And may I complain? I had to try three different places last week before I found plain seltzer! Too damn many flavors.)

Re: shrub

[chefxh]

Sounds lovely! I always find 2-liter bottles of plain seltzer at Fred Meyer.

I bought Kevin a seltzer siphon a dozen years ago; one of the best gifts I ever gave him (along with 200 little compressed-CO2 cartridges). He loved it, used it for years, but the waste was unconscionable and now the little cylinders are more expensive. Frankly I like the Kroger stuff better anyway. It's even cheaper.

Re: shrub

[offcntr]

The problem I have with two liter bottles is, if I don't use it all at once, I wind up with 2/3 liter of flat water.

Found a 24-pack case of 12 oz. cans at Albertson's for 6 bucks, plus deposit. (Neither Winco, BiMart or the Groce Out had unflavored seltzer. Freddie's would have been my fall-back.)