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22 replies on “Finally!”

  2. I’ve been chomping down for a while now when riding my bike along the Interurban.

    Maybe the bloom is early in Kent.

  6. So…I picked about 4-5 lbs of them this last weekend from behind my West Seattle house. They are delicious! However, when I was sorting them out, I noticed an abundance of bugs. Not just a few little gnats or beetles, but what looked like maggots. Little white wormy-things. I soaked them in salt water for over an hour, which seemed to kill them, then vaccuum sealed the bags and froze them. I’m sort of reluctant to eat them now just from the ‘ick factor’. I know they won’t hurt me, they’re dead…but what do you all think?

  7. @6 Oh man, I had a friend complaining about finding little white worms in his berries, too. Not noticeable from the outside, but when mashing for pie filling/jams, they became apparent. He was too grossed out and tossed them all. Also he had a minor panic attack that he’s been consuming these things all these years, as they only became apparent to him when mashing.

    I’ve never encountered such a thing before. YUCK!!

  11. @6, 7, we turn to the journalists of Federal Way for a surprisingly well-researched and -written article on the sudden appearance of maggots in local blackberries. One master gardener said:

    Worms don’t have to mean the end to an otherwise good batch of berries, he said. Soaking fruits, vegetables and berries in a saline solution, such as salt water, often forces the pests to the surface. There, they can be skimmed away. The berries can then be used. Once they’ve been subjected to the solution, the berry is sanitized and the part that could harm a person is removed, he said. Davis mentioned this is subject to debate. Some master gardeners will advise a person to simply not eat the berry.

    “It depends on how squeamish you are,” Davis said.

    http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/f…

  13. Hey, thanks for the encouragement. Maybe I’ll make use of them in such a way that I won’t notice. Like the wine thing. Or maybe I’ll just bake pies and give them to unsuspecting coworkers. >:)

  14. yeah, let me echo number 10. make sure when you pick that you know they haven’t been sprayed. and i always avoid picking below waist level…i call those “tinkleberries”.

  17. The raw maggots are much more delicious. I’ve got about a half gallon in the freezer and (SPOILER ALERT: THE NEXT WORDS ARE ABOUT MY POOP) my poop looks and smells like blackberry jam.

  19. @11 THANKS for the great information. You should get yourself over to questionland, where I asked this question this morning, and post the link. There’s a mushroom waiting for you, if you do. *smile*

  20. @11 Am I just not hip to what certification and education a master gardener would have or are they simply appealing to an implied measure of authority that does not necessarily exist?

    Perhaps an entomologist?

  21. Picked enough for a pie over the weekend. Noticed little bugs here and there and skipped those, but tried not to think about the little white worms possibility (maggots? eek). Got them home, washed them, and made the pie. I have no idea if maggots were there, but I never saw any (but I also never mashed), and I and others have enjoyed the pie without any ill effects. So.. if there were maggots, yay protein! If not, yay no maggots!

  22. jesus christ people, what’s good for the worm is most likely good for the bipedal. pick ’em an eat ’em. freeze what you take home and you’ll most likely never notice anything biological.

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