🍎
Apple (Malus) · Black elderberry · Blackberry · Blackthorn · Rose
🗓 Season: August · September · October · November · July
🔍 When is it ripe?
Apple (Malus): Background skin colour shifts from green toward yellow; seeds turn brown when ripe. Fruit separates from the spur with a gentle upward twist. Aroma develops near the base. Wild Malus fruit is often small and tart — excellent for cider and jelly.
Black elderberry: Clusters of deep purple-black berries; cut entire clusters. Never eat raw — cook thoroughly (destroys sambunigrin). Ripe when all berries on the cluster are uniformly dark and the cluster droops. High in antioxidants; excellent syrup.
Blackberry: Fully black (not red or dark red) and comes off the stem with no resistance — zero pull. Dull rather than shiny; a shiny black berry is still slightly underripe and tart. Eat the same day for best flavour.
Blackthorn: Sloe berries: small, round, blue-black with a heavy bloom. Intensely astringent raw — traditionally harvested after the first frost, which breaks down tannins. Best used for sloe gin or jelly. Spiny branches — wear gloves when harvesting.
Rose: Rose hips (swollen seed pods) ripen to red or orange after flowering. Pick when fully coloured and slightly soft. Remove the seeds and hairs inside (irritating). Very high in vitamin C; excellent for syrup, tea, and jelly. Leave some for birds in winter.
LOADS of blackberries especially - in these woods and also in the adjacent field between the lake at the railway...and at the gate from Kiln Lane into the field (sloes here too). Crabapples by the lake, late to ripen this year but loads of them. Rosehips and elderberries dotted around the whole route.
1
Views
0
🍃 Yes reports
0
🚫 No reports
0
Notes
Recent sightings 0
No sightings yet. Be the first to report!