BLACKBERRIES FROM THE FRUIT AND BERRY PATCH

Blackberries grow in several different cultivars. The wild blackberry is known to almost everyone and picking wild blackberries was a Fourth of July outing for many of us during our childhood . Wild blackberries are often small, difficult to pick and sometimes have a slightly bitter taste. Of the "tame" or cultivated blackberries, the trailing thornless blackberries are best known. These blackberries get ripe in late July and early August. They are much larger than the wild blackberries but have a large seed and are much more tart than wild blackberries or other cultivated blackberries. The "other" cultivated blackberries most common in the south today are the "Indian" series of blackberries with each variety named after an Indian tribe. These blackberries are about the same size as the trailing thornless blackberries but have a smaller seed and are much less tart. They are similar in flavor to the dewberry. The "Indian" type blackberries grown at the Fruit and Berry Patch are the Apache, Chickasaw and Ouachita varieties and ripen in late June and early to mid July. The Chickasaw blackberries have thorns while the Apache and Ouachita are thornless. All are excellent for anything that wild berries are used for. The trailing thornless blackberries make excellent jelly and can be used for pies, etc. but require more sugar than the wild or Indian series blackberries.

Blackberries may be picked at The Fruit and Berry Patch from mid- to late June until late August or early September.

THE FRUIT AND BERRY PATCH
Thanks for your interest and support of The Fruit and Berry Patch
Joe Dennis, Judie and Jeffrey Fox, Owners/Operators