Blackberry Madness

It’s August, and the bushes are heavy with blackberries. I find myself thinking about them a little too much, speculating on what kind of a blackberry season it will be. Will it be a good crop? Will I find a good place to pick? Will there be good weather, and lots of time for picking?

Yes, blackberry madness is about to set in, the delirious state in which I attempt to use blackberries in as many ways as is humanly possible before the season ends.

Last year, I have to say, was about was about as good as it gets.

We spent a week at the end of August at the Captain’s Quarters on Galiano Island. It’s a combination B&B and basil farm, up near Pebble Beach.

We’d never been there before, and it was a lovely shock to discover a field, bordered with blackberry bushes, just outside the cabin door. Plus, we had an open invitation to pick.

Breakfast: blackberries in yogurt for me, blackberries on cereal for Al.

Snacks: blackberries eaten in handfuls out of a bowl.

And desserts? Blackberries and ice cream was lovely, but the one I liked best was this:

Saint Andre triple creme brie, on a thin crisp bread, drizzled with honey and topped with blackberries.

If we picked the berries after supper, we could have them while they were still warm from the sun.

I’m not going to try to describe it, beyond saying that it was cream-and-berry heaven, but I do plan to do it again this year, repeatedly, for as long as blackberry season lasts.

There are, in fact, a whole pile of things I want to do with blackberries this summer – lots of old favorites, and a few I’d like to try for the first time.

So let’s hope it’s a good year.