When is blackberry season

They are more highly prized in western Europe than anywhere else in the world, and collected and eaten most enthusiastically of all in Britain, where blackberrying occupies a special cultural niche as a uniquely rewarding leisure activity. There are now as many as 2, varieties of Rubus fruticosus worldwide, if you count the naturally occurring hybrids and commercial cultivars, and none of them produce true berries.

Instead, they are "aggregate fruits", agglomerations of individual berries known as drupelets. The family also includes raspberries, and it's more difficult than you might think to tell the two apart. There are black raspberries and red blackberries, and the only way to be certain is to pick one; the blackberry will come away with the hard centre, or receptacle, retained within the fruit whereas that of the raspberry will be left behind on the plant. The only thing to do then is to eat the berry, and then conduct the experiment again, repeatable results being the cornerstone of empirical scientific research.

In the early season, with cream and a little sugar, the still slightly tart berries make a pleasant change from strawberries. As the fruits swell and ripen into September their sweetness becomes more pronounced and they find other homes in pies, crumbles and cobblers, frequently combined with early apples for a taste which is the embodiment of the changing seasons.

There is traditionally a date after which the berries should not be picked, most commonly taken to be Michaelmas 29 September but later in some areas, after which time the devil is said to spit or stamp or worse on the berries, rendering them unfit. It seems likely that this is a reference to the grey botrytis cinerea mould which envelops the fruits later in the season. No mention in folklore is made of the more prosaic problems associated with low hanging fruit in areas where dogs are walked and child pickers roam.

According to Lia Leendertz , Loch Ness is extremely popular because it "produces a high yield from thornless, compact plants - perfect for small gardens. Blackberries also make an amazing addition to savoury dishes.

Try a blackberry reduction with venison or duck. You can even add blackberries to a very autumnal beetroot and goats cheese salad. Lorraine: Davina makes a blackberry and apple crumble. When is blackberry season in the UK Image: Getty. Blackberries tend to reach their prime between August and September Image: Getty.

When to pick strawberries. How can you tell if a blackberry is ripe? Where can I pick blackberries? You can spot a ripe blackberry by its deep black colour Image: Getty. You may even have a crop in your own back garden! How to store blackberries If you go out blackberry picking, try to resist stacking your containers too high. Cramming containers full of berries leads to them becoming squashed and bruised. Blackberries are in season late spring to early fall, but peak season is summer hence the reason they are called seasonal summer fruits.

This being said, a blackberry plant does not produce fruits for the entire length of the season, that is, late spring to early fall. Each shrub bears fruit for about a month to a month and a half during the season. Blackberries ripen gradually on the plant which means several harvests are required per plant and this takes place roughly over the course of a month, a month and a half in the season.

While blackberry season officially lasts a good number of months, the harvest season per plant is only one month to one month and a half.

But different regions see the start of the harvest season at different times of the year. This is because the berries are heavily reliant on weather conditions for ripening and regional variations in temperature and other weather conditions will cause the start and end of the harvest season to vary depending on the region of cultivation.

Blackberry harvest season varies with region and climate, but can also vary from year to year according to variations in weather conditions. The start of blackberry season varies with region, but can also vary from year to year according to variations in temperature and other weather conditions. Unusually warmer weather can see the start of blackberry season a couple of weeks to a month in advance. Conversely, a longer winter and cooler spring temperatures can cause blackberry harvest season to start later and, as a result, also end later compared to previous years.

In the Northern hemisphere, blackberry season is late spring to early fall, with peak season being summer. This means the first blackberries are ripe and ready to eat mid-late May to early-mid June at the earliest. Peak season is June-July to August-September. Blackberry season in the Northern hemisphere typically lasts until early to mid October when the last harvests take place.

In the Southern hemisphere, blackberry season is also late spring to early fall and peak season is summer.