DELAYED DEWBERRY SEASON IS HERE

Well, almost.  Because of our historic freeze last year we didn't have many dewberries last year.  One thing we could always count on were the dewberries (which grow wild all over our property) coming in late April/early May.

This year we hadn't seen anything yet...

Dewberry patch

...until a couple weekends when when we noticed that this has happened!  We had red (unripe) dewberries on all the vines.  They are a bit smaller than usual but with the rains last week we hoped they would plump up.

Dewberries ripening on the vine

Sure enough, when I was on the mower this weekend, I saw ripe ones finally coming in.

Fresh ripe dewberries

Nothing like a little snack while on the mower!  Pretty good sizes too.  This weekend we hope to gather some more fresh ones to use.  We still have some vacuum sealed in the freezer but some fresh ones would be nice, maybe enough for one cobbler or some compote over vanilla ice cream would be delicious.

Speaking of delicious, I had some cheddar cheese and crackers at the farm to have a post mowing snack...

Cheese, crackers and dewberries

...and when life gives you cheese and crackers and your yard has wild dewberries growing all around it, well it's time to make a real snack!

The combination of salty crackers and the great flavor of cheddar worked nicely with the sweet tartness of the berries.  The berries were even still warm from the sun when I put them on and it was delicious!

I sat on the porch after mowing and ate berries until my fingers were purple.

It was a good day  :-)

DEWBERRY FRUIT BUCKLE RECIPE

Here is a recipe 2nd Man found when looking for things to do with our dewberries.  

This is a fruit buckle, a traditional type coffee cake-like dessert that you can use with blueberries, peaches, blackberries, etc.

For this post, I put the ingredients and steps on each picture.  Thought I'd change things up a bit, ha. 

These are the dry ingredients, put them together in a bowl and mix them together.  

Then there is the topping.  A simple topping of sugar, all purpose flour, cinnamon and cold butter, crumbled into a sand like consistency.

The wet ingredients, egg, butter and milk, get whisked together.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix all into a batter.

Then pour it into a greased baking dish.

Add two cups of dewberries and scatter across the top.  Or blackberries.  Or blueberries  Or peaches.  Well, you get the idea.

Lastly, sprinkle the topping over all the fruit and it's ready to pop into a preheated 350 degree oven. 

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool for a few minutes but it's really good when still warm.  Cut it up...

Dewberry buckle

...and serve!  It was delicious!  Not too sweet, it was moist, and a great way for us to use some of our dewberries.  Very much like a coffee cake or maybe a pound cake with fruit topping, etc.  It would be really good with ice cream but we haven't done that.  

Yet...

DEWBERRY GATHERING END OF SEASON

It was the last weekend for dewberry gathering...

Ripe dewberries

Look at all those berries just waiting for picking!

Dewberry bucket

This is a 2 gallon bucket, I filled it up once and then this is the second batch.  We gave some to 2nd Family and brought the rest home.

Wild dewberries

There are a few red ones left, in a sea of ripe black/purple, so we might be able to squeak in a small batch this weekend. We'll see.  

Freezing dewberries

I rinse them in a ceramic colander and then drain them on paper towels to get the water off. Once they are mostly dry, I put them in a single layer on a freezer paper covered sheet pan and freeze for a few hours, usually overnight.  Our freezer is small here at the apartment so I do one batch at a time.

Once they are frozen, I just take them off, measure, and seal them in a bag.  For now, they are in two large gallon ziplock bags.  I am waiting until we're done collecting them so I can divide them up evenly.

I swear, if it's a good season again next year, I'm going to take vacation time off work and just spend the entire day gathering dewberries so we can get as many as possible.  

DEWBERRY GATHERING WEEKEND ONE

It's that time of year again!  Time to harvest dewberries. Click the label below this post for past dewberry posts.  

Dewberries growing wild

For those unfamiliar, the dewberry is a Southern favorite and a relative of the blackberry.  It grows more as a spreading bush, instead of a climbing vine.  Lots of thorns (tiny ones hat will sneak up on you) but the occasional stick is worth the fight. They are so yummy.  A bit "seedier" than blackberries but just as sweet.  You can see in the photo above that they pop up in all stages of ripening.  It's been our experience that there are about two good weeks this time of year when they are ripe and ready.  This past weekend was the first good weekend, this coming weekend will probably be the last and biggest haul. 

Dewberry basket

I gathered two of these containers full of berries.  Minus a few sun warmed berries eaten along the way of course.  You know, for strength while gathering!

No, this is not crime scene evidence or a terrible kitchen accident...this is the paper towel I put the washed berries on to let them drip dry before freezing. They are definitely messy, we've learned to wear gloves or we will have purple hands all day. 

Frozen dewberries

This haul wasn't bad.  Looking forward to more this coming weekend.  Then we'll have to save them in the freezer in order to stretch them out as long as possible so that we may enjoy them well into the Fall and Winter. 

Dewberry cobbler anyone? 

Though 2nd Man is wanting me to make that Dewberry Cake again.  Hopefully we'll have enough to cook all sorts of fun things.

DEWBERRIES COMING SOON

It's almost that time of year.  The dewberries are almost here!  For those new to the blog, dewberries are a Southern thing.  It's a variety of blackberry that grows wild just about everywhere in the South.

Dewberry patch 

Usually they are growing in ditches and empty lots and along fence lines. We are lucky in that they are ALL OVER THE FARM.  Large patches of dewberries.  

Dewberry trails

A few places I've mowed around and through to leave whole areas like this one above.  Everything on the left is dewberry.  By mowing this trail and keeping it mowed season after season, we've created several areas to easily pick from.  

Dewberry fruit

They have gone from thousands of white flowers to small fruit.  As you can see, they are in varying stages of ripening.  Most are just starting to turn...

Dewberries ripening

...but some, as you can see here, were already turning and looked ripe.  I plucked the one on the bottom and ate it but it was still a bit tart.  It needs to go a bit longer.  They almost always ripen within days of each other.  After all the rain we've had, I'm guessing that this weekend (or perhaps next) will be the first dewberry gathering weekend of the season.  

Dewberries last year

For those wanting to know more about dewberries, I usually post every year when it's in season.  Over near the top of the blog is a list of labels, click "dewberries" there or just look at the bottom of this post and click on the label for "dewberries" and you can pull up all the posts we've had on them.  We've made dewberry jam, dewberry cobblers and pies and last year I made a dewberry cake.

They are yummy!  Let the harvest begin (soon!)

MACERATED DEWBERRIES OVER ICE CREAM RECIPE

Here is something else we did with our dewberries we have growing at the farm.  Weekend before last, we managed to get one more small batch.  

Fresh Dewberries

I put them in a canning jar to bring them back into town.  It wasn't enough for a cobbler or to make some jam, so we did the next best thing.

All we did was add about half a cup of sugar to the berries in a bowl.  You could use any berry in this process, they will all break down with time.

Dewberries and Sugar

Stir it all around.  We mashed a few of the berries while stirring and let the natural process of breaking down kickstart the work.

Macerating Dewberries

Of course, this natural process is called maceration.  It usually involves adding a liquid but the sugar and semi mashed berries draw out natural liquid so it's pretty close to maceration.  No cooking, just let them sit for about 30 minutes or an hour, stirring occasionally.  As the sugar breaks down the berries, it all becomes a lovely sauce with a vibrant berry flavor.

Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Be sure to take the ice cream out of the fridge so it gets soft.  We used "Bluebell Homemade Vanilla" 

(it's a beloved Southern brand).

Dewberries over Ice Cream

All that was left to do was pour it over the vanilla ice cream and enjoy our bounty from the farm!  One of these days, we'll try our own homemade vanilla ice cream.  Might be a nice Summer treat.  

DEWBERRY CAKE RECIPE

Whoa, wait what?  Here is something that is SO wonderfully delicious. Dewberry cake.   

Oh, and guess who made it?

ME!  1st Man made it!

Ingredients for Dewberry Ricotta cake

I always like to get the ingredients all out and ready to go.  This includes a cup of our frozen dewberries, our homemade vanilla and some of the farm eggs from 2nd Family's chickens.  I also lined a 9" cake pan with parchment paper and lightly sprayed the bottom and sides with cooking spray.

This recipe requires two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet.  The best part is that it is all done by hand, no mixer required.

Dry bowl and wet bowl

The dry ingredients are put in one bowl; flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.  Stir to combine (whisk or fork, whichever you have). 

The other bowl has the wet ingredients, the ricotta, eggs, and vanilla.  Stir until smooth.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine.  Then add the melted butter and fold again until just combined. 

Dewberry cake batter

Add 3/4 cup of the dewberries (you could use any berry at this point, raspberry, blackberry, etc) and set aside the remaining 1/4 cup. GENTLY fold them in.  

Cake batter

No heavy stirring here, you just want them dispersed throughout the batter without breaking them up.  

Dewberries on top

Scrape batter into the prepared cake pan.  Take the remaining 1/4 cup of berries and scatter them around the top.  No stirring this time, you just let them sit on top while it bakes.  

Dewberry Cake

Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  I set the timer for 50 minutes, checked it and it was a bit damp on the toothpick so I put it back in for 5 more minutes and it was perfect!

Slice of Dewberry Cake

Let it cool for about 20 minutes then turn the cake out of the pan, it should just come right out (be careful and be sure to peel off the parchment if it's still on the bottom of the cake).  Turn it back upright and slice into it when you are ready.  WOW...

Dewberry Cake

I served it to 2nd Man as a surprise (he was out when I made it).  I put the slices on plates, sprinkled with powdered sugar and we dug in.  It was AMAZING.  We both describe this as a cross between a cheesecake and a pound cake.  He talked about it for a couple of days (which was about as long as it lasted).  I guess I did well!  

It was nice paying him back for all of his good meals. 

ENJOY!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick (half cup) unsalted butter - melted

1 cup berries - frozen is best

DEWBERRY SEASON 2017

It was an OK year for our dewberry patches but not as good as prior years have been.  We think it's the lack of the "rainy season" this Spring but really, we can't complain too much because the last couple of years were monsoon rains week after week and NOT MUCH got done on the farm.  This year however, we've gotten quite a few outdoor projects done... 

Dewberry vines

This is an example of how dewberries grow. They are in various stages of ripening all at once so it's a progressive gathering method.  You have to check every few days, or in our case, once a week.  Usually though they are much bigger, these are smaller...

Farm fresh dewberries

Every weekend, we were able to gather one or two of these containers full of berries...

It's just a hunting game, keeping your eye open for the black ones and of course, avoiding the thorns...

Here was one weekend haul, we had a few of these...

Washing dewberries

I would wash them to get any grass or leaves off that we might have missed while gathering (or a stray bug I suppose, ha) and then I put them on paper towels to drain...

Freezing dewberries

Next it's on to a freezer paper lined baking sheet in a single layer and popped into the freezer for an hour or two.  This freezes them individually so they aren't in one frozen clump...

Then I just measure them into two cup amounts for each batch.  Most recipes call for two cups of berries so we try to divide them up that way.  If a few extra over the two cups found their way in, well it's not the end of the world.  I mean, "too many berries" in a cobbler?  Yeah, we didn't think so either...

Frozen packaged dewberries

Lastly we use our vacuum sealer to seal them up in relatively flat(ish) layers (for easier storage in the freezer).  We had these four, plus three more.  So I guess that's about 14 cups total.  We've already used a couple (details coming in a future post).

Dewberries

We try our best to use them sparingly so that we can enjoy a dewberry cobbler in the middle of Winter. 

It will be another year before we see these beauties again...