local food: blackberries

This afternoon at the end of a Timebank trade helping a local harvest his hazelnuts, the neighbour led us up to his patch of blackberries and gave us a container to fill. This got me thinking of a blackberry patch I had spied on a walk recently and I headed back there as soon as I had collected some more vessels from home.

The berries are are ripe and juicy right now.
Check out the scrubby roadsides and track edges for the hidden jewels of Summer sweet.
For the next couple of weeks we are going to be prepared for sudden berry finds; we'll keep a container stashed in our bag. I suggest you do too.
After all the foraging I was after something super easy to make with them for dessert: a simple blackberry and apple roll was a good solution.

Here's what I did:

Heaped cup of plain flour.
1 tsp baking  powder
Pinch of salt.
50 gms butter.
2-3 Tbsp ice-cold milk.
3 large apples
1 cup of blackberries.


Glaze
50gms butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar.
1 cup boiling water.


Sift flour, baking powder and salt and rub in butter. Mix to stiff dough with the milk and roll out thinly.
Peel, core and slice apples and spread onto half of the dough. Place blackberries on top. Roll uncovered dough over top of fruit and press dough closed around the edge. Place in shallow baking dish.
Mix glaze ingredients together, then spoon half over roll. Bake at 180oC for 30 mins. Remove from oven and spoon over remainder of glaze.
Bake for another 30 minutes.


Serve hot with cream if you have it. We didn't.

Posted by Jacinda, also writing occassionally  at www.watchingkereru.blogspot.com