Summer Sweetness & Satan's Spittle- Blackberries
Blackberries ripening in the shade
Hello and welcome back to another week of Rooted! This week we’re chatting about one of the quickly fading tastes of late summer- Blackberry.
Blackberry, or Rubus, is actually a HUGE genus so we’re going to just be talking about it generally today! Blackberries are native to a pretty long list of places- north america, south america, asia, europe- pretty much everywhere. With that in mind, it’s kind of important to know which are native and which are invasive, because if you plant the wrong kind (looking at you, himalayan blackberry) it can really take over and crowd out your native species- the PNW region of north america knows this all too well- the good news? The best way to fight back against invasive blackberry is to eat them…we love it when the solution is snacking on this channel.
While there are a TON of different blackerberries- each with their own unique needs, most of these guys are going to thrive in well draining, disturbed soil in areas that don’t have too much sun, but have plenty of water. If the cullens would like it, there is a good chance blackberry would too.
With it’s prickly stems, lush green leaves, dark sweet compound berries, and sweet little white flowers, this guy looks like most members of the family. Plus- you can be sure it’s safe to taste if you are sure it’s a compound berry- a berry made up of smaller pieces that are all connected-
And in North America, since all of the compound berries that grow here are not toxic…that being said, don’t go around picking and eating stuff you aren’t able to identify- especially from people’s yards- looking at you, Alicia Silverstone.
As it turns out, there is more allure to these dark berries than just their taste. According to a variety of folklores- anywhere from greek to english, these berries belong to the king of the underworld.
The story goes that after a huge fight, satan (or whoever the big bad in that tradition is) gets into a huge flight with the king of kings (or god of gods) and is basically cast out of the heavens, plummeting to earth, and landing in a prickly patch of blackberry. Betrayed by the brambles, satan was PISSED. Cursing the fruit to be thinner and less tasty, and “tainting them with his misfortune…this story is really validating my feelings of blackberries being the worst compound berry…..
Anyway, it is because of this hellacious hex that berry lovers are warned to not DARE pick or eat blackberries after michaelmas
Fell into bush
Cursed it to be a little less tasty
Tainted with misfortune
Do not dare pick after michaelmas- the christian feast day celebrating archangel michael who shoved satan out of the sky- on september 29th. This is because the king of the underworld is said to have SPAT on them that day…and nobody wants to snack on the devil’s loogie- we love ourselves a little.
Blackberry was also planted on graves…Some say it was done to keep sheep from grazing there- others say the bush helped to ensure the dead stayed entombed- citing that the devil’s powers would surely keep them in their place- which kind makes sense when we also consider how deep their roots are, and how hard they can be to remove- coming back stronger every time you cut them back.
Either way- we can clearly see that people believed the history of this berry was as dark as it’s juice, staining and sullying their opinion of them for years to come.
As you’ve probably guessed, this rumored curse still wasn’t enough to keep us all from enjoying them from time to time.
In witchcraft, blackberry was often used and called upon in protection spells, working with certain dieties, and is sometimes tied to fairies, with the idea being that blackberries grow where the veil between our worlds are thinner, and servicing as a snack that can really bring us together.
In food, we’re all probably pretty familiar with blackberries being eaten alone, baked into pies, mixed with whiskey and other liquors, slathered on meat, etc etc. I won't bore you with the details, but we’ll probably do a mocktails and mixtapes drink soon!
In medicine, there are all kinds of interesting stories about how blackberry can help us, even if it’s got a little satan spit on it.
For instance, it was said in old-timey england that folx would pass their babies under the brambles to prevent whooping cough, with the idea being that the bush would take the cough from the baby and hold on to it.
Additionally they were also often leaned on to treat disentary, tummy troubles, whooping cough (with a tea, not just the passing of babes under branches) and a ton of other ailments!
The roots and leaves were also used to treat labor pain and toothaches, either through deconcoction (basically just boiling) or chewing on them. This likely worked because they are astringent, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial- helping to kill any germs and calm down any angry tissue.
Of course- blackberries are also well known for being a great source of antioxidants! We discusses how exactly antioxidants work in our strawberry episode, so I wont dig much deeper here- but it’s important to remember that any food that is a deep red or dark blue is going to be high in antioxidants!
Today we still use blackberries for a lot of these uses! They remain a solid snack to have on hand, and are an easy addition to a lot of herbs blends to add a sweeter, more balanced flavor, plus general germ and inflammation fighting benefits!
That’s all I've got for gor this week! Next time you see a bramble, I hope you’ll snack on an invasive species, and celebrate not being afraid of satan’s spit at the same time!
I’ll be back next week with another plant for us all to dig into, see you then!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas
https://www.dimensionsvariable.org/blackberry.html
https://www.forager.org.uk/resources/wild-food-blog/21-ingredients/105-blackberry-folklore
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/rubspp/all.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127818/
