3 Ideas for Surplus Blackberries

Delicious blackberry crisp - yum!

Hubby has been bringing me a gallon of blackberries every morning for the past week. Beings we have a sizable patch growing wild practically right outside our door, this will likely continue for another week or so.

What I like about this daily 'gift' is that it's a manageable amount. I usually just wash and freeze them for later use, especially when I've had to deal with gallons and gallons all at once. Having fresh berries every day, however, has led me to look for more ways to use fresh berries. Here are my favorites thus far:

Blackberry Crisp - Just use your favorite apple crisp recipe but substitute fresh blackberries for the sliced apples. As you can see by my photo, it turns out great!

Blackberry Pulled Pork - Throw a big hunk of pork in your crock pot and toss in a chopped onion. Smash a couple cups of blackberries through a sieve to remove the seeds and add about a teaspoon each of salt, granulated garlic and apple cider vinegar along with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Stir it up good and pour over your pork and onion. Pop the lid on and walk away for 8 or 9 hours if you've set it on low and about half that time if you've set it on high. Once it's done, shred it and serve!

Blackberry BBQ Sauce - After making the pulled pork, I realized the leftover juice would make a great base for BBQ sauce. But I'm sure I could make a yummy BBQ sauce from fresh berries, as well - it would just require some time on the stovetop.

Well, here he comes with the berries for today so I guess I'd better go...