Blackberry Picking

I like to eat seasonally and local as much as I can. We go to the farmers market some but you can’t get fresher than going straight to the source. So saturday morning we went blackberry picking with my mom and sister. Eric went with us too but he was convinced he was only invited to be berry picking labor. I told him that it would be easy and we wouldn’t be there long but was he wasn’t buying it. My mom found the farm online from pickyourown.org it is a site that connects you to local farmers in your area. The farm we went to had blackberries and blueberries ready to be picked. We went early before it got too hot out and we were there for less than an hour. The U-Pick farms make it easy for you its not like picking wild berries in the woods. The plants were in neat rows and they were growing a thornless variety.

We picked about a gallon of berries and it cost us $15. We knew we wanted to make a cobbler but I went to Pinterest for other ideas on what to do with all the blackberries we picked. Eric decided he wanted to make a blackberry bbq sauce to grill on seitan steaks.

To make the Blackberry BBQ Sauce:

• 2 cups blackberries
• 2 small spicy cajun peppers diced (other peppers will work but thats what we are growing in our garden this year) 
• 2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp of onion powder 
• 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
• dash of liquid smoke
• 3 oz tomato paste (half a small can)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar  

Saute the peppers for 2 minutes then add the blackberries and ginger cook for an additional minute. Add all other ingredients and simmer until thick about 20 minutes. If you want a smoother sauce you can blend with an immersion stick blender.