Invasive so-called Himalayan blackberries clamber over much of western Washington's terrain. Dubbed "Himalayan" by Luther Burbank as a marketing move even though they probably originated in Armenia, these blackberries aren't the thornless variety he had hoped to breed by a long shot. Not even close; when I pick them along the roads near my house I wear long sleeves, some hiking pants with a smooth finish, and a glove on one hand to push the vines back.
Like my gleaned apples, they're free for the taking so I end up thinking up things to do with them.
- Fruit leather: I have a batch waiting in the freezer for me to decide whether I'm turning them into fruit leather along with plums I got from a Buy Nothing offer.
- Flavored vinegar: I soaked a big batch in white wine vinegar to make this for gift-giving. I used a sugar-free blackberry vinegar recipe, although other recipes involving sugar would be fine if you'd like to start with a sweeter base. I didn't take the longer-term route of extracting and then fermenting blackberry juice to turn it into vinegar. I hung onto the soaked blackberries and used a bunch of them in the chutney, which provided vinegary quality. Now pink, with much of their color along with flavor transferred into the vinegar, a few of them wait in the freezer for a future something or other.
- Blackberry chutney: If you've read my other recipe roundups about tomatoes, apples, pears, zucchini, and green tomatoes, you know I love me some chutney! So of course I had to riff on a few recipes I found. This turned out not to be as tangy as most of my other chutneys, more along the lines of a complex jam than anything. Well worth putting on a cracker with some cheese though
- BBC Apple, Blackberry and Cinnamon Chutney
- Larder Love's Easy Blackberry (Bramble) Chutney
- Wellington Bakehouse Blackberry Relish: No apples
- Feast Glorious Feast Blackberry Chutney
- Foraged Farmacy Spiced Blackberry Chutney
- Blackberries: 1,300 grams (mine were soaked in vinegar; refer to note with the vinegar amount)
- Apples: ~415 grams, approximately 3-4 apples depending on size, diced small
- Onion (red or yellow): 400 grams, diced small
- Brown sugar (white okay; brown sugar gives a caramel element): 450 grams
- Apple cider or any other vinegar with 5% acidity: At a guesstimate, 350 grams; taste and adjust after it's all cooked together. I used blackberries soaked in vinegar so the vinegar amount is based on proportions from the source recipes
- Garlic: 3 cloves, diced or crushed
- Ground cumin: 1/2 t.
- Crushed red pepper: 1/2 t.
- Fine salt: 1 t.
- Cinnamon: 1 t.
- Cloves: 1/4 t.
- Optional: Zest of 1-2 oranges