Blackberry crumble

As you know from my last post the blackberries are out in Yorkshire now. Out of all the berries you can get blackberries have the most antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and they are FREE. Blackberries were the first thing I learned to forage as a child.They are my favourite too. I make jam and infuse gin, and love to pick them for comforting puddings during the winter. I have been blackberry picking about 5 times now and will collect more this week to add nutrition to my winter diet.

This is the easy recipe that I gave the young man today. I know that people that have been cooking for years know this recipe, but a lot of people are just starting to cook from scratch, and one reason that I write this blog is so that my kids will have all my recipes when I am gone. I some times make crumble and store it in bags in the freezer uncooked as you can use it from frozen when you are in a hurry. I always mix blackberries with some apple when I make a crumble or pie so that the blackberries go further. Often I use old, slightly wizened apples or ones foraged from local trees.

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 180⁰C
2. Rub the butter or margarine into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add 3oz sugar and mix into the flour mixture and put to one side.
4. Put the washed fruit into an oven proof dish and stir through the remaining sugar. (I grate my apple when I put it in but some people like it cut in little chunks).
5. Scatter the topping over all the fruit and flatten with your hand or the back of a spoon.
6. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes or until crisp and a slight golden colour.

You can lift the crumble up a notch by substituting some of the flour for oats and by using demerara sugar in the topping. When picking blackberries be careful not to pick them low to the ground where dogs might have been or near roads with lots of cars (polution). Blackberries don’t need to be cooked before freezing to use later, and the crumble can be frozen in portions.😋