Edibles from the forest: wild raspberry and wild blackberry jams
With these fruits, highly abundant in the wild European forests, I prepare every summer a good amount of jam that we then enjoy throughout the year mixed with yogurt or ice cream, or used as a filling for cakes.
Raspberries and blackberries grow wild and fructify very well in the European forests. In Switzerland, they ripen from late June in the sunniest parts till around mid-august. I already know the best places where to get fruit around me, which are essentially open parts of the forest facing South -thus getting more sunlight. Every summer I visit these spots 2 or 3 times and collect around half to one kilo of blackberries, which are very abundant, and a quarter to half a kilo of raspberries, which are more picky and sensitive. Although I eat part of this fresh, it is often too much; and these kinds of fruits spoil very quickly, especially raspberries. Therefore I prepare jam following a recipe that is very easy but whose success depends on a couple of important hints that I will share here.
Tips for harvesting the wild fruits
Here’s a photo of a typical plant containing a high density of blackberries, in an open sunbathed area of the forest…
