Blackberries, Raspberries, Daylilies and Elderbloom

Random thoughts tonight:

According to my neighbors, the blackberries should be a good harvest this year. It did not rain on June 1 or June 2. Opinions differ as to which date is the one that determines whether the berries will be plentiful, but since it didn't rain on either day, I think we're safe.


Assuming, of course, that we get some rain in the next two months. This is the driest spring I can remember since the early 1980's when we grew tobacco.


I found the first ripe wild raspberry yesterday on the canes along our driveway. Just one, but there are several red ones. They're very small this year because of the lack of rain.



The elderberries are in full bloom, and I'm noting the location of accessible bushes. Last year the birds beat me to them but this year I am determined to get some for jelly. Local folks say that cows' milk production drops when the elderberries bloom and I know that it was true when we owned cows. Probably it was something else that they ate that made their milk drop, and the flowers just happened to bloom at that time.

I remember making elderberry bloom fritters. We had more elderberry plants around here then and didn't mind using the flowers instead of the berries. We made elderberry flower wine too and it was one of my favorites. The recipe was in an old paperback book that used simple ingredients and equipment. We liked it best mixed with the tart blackberry wine. The combination created a jewel-like red that was a hit with anyone who tried it. That was 25 years ago, but I can still recall the zing of that wine.

Daylily are blooming now and their flowers are good for fritters too, but my favorite way to fix them is to batter dip and fry individual petals, then dip in salsa.

I'm hoping for good berries this year. I need to make more jam because when our sons come home, they usually take a few jars home with them. Maybe I'll be able to mail some to Iraq, if I use plenty of bubble wrap. But I'll be sure to keep a few jars here for the welcome home breakfast.