As a Weyerhaeuser forest engineer for 38 years, Warren Sorenson walked a lot of tree lines and clear-cuts, and has eaten a lot of peanut butter and blackberry jelly sandwiches along the way. They’re portable, he says, and they’re his favorite.
But today Warren doesn’t have to walk any further than his own back yard for the same berries he picked in the mountains and brought home for his wife, Donna, to make into jam.
“I’ve domesticated the wild mountain blackberry,” Warren said.
The wild mountain blackberry, also known as the Cascade trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus), grows low to the ground and has a smaller, but sweeter berry than the more common, invasive upright canes of the Himalayan (Rubus discolor).
The Sorensons have two trellised rows of blackberry vines — one row of each.
After 25 years of experimentation, Warren has nearly perfected his cultivation techniques and has even increased the size and flavor of his mountain berries. The wild mountain blackberry prefers a filtered sun and higher moisture level than the more common roadside variety will tolerate, he said.
The trellised vines are sheltered with a shade cloth overhead when the sun is hot and the berries are blackening and “sugaring up.” Below, he keeps the roots mulched to help retain moisture.
The hot sun robs the berries of their moisture and, without the shade cloth, Warren would lose a lot of his crop to sunburn. This year, however, he is battling another enemy — the common Robin.
“This is the first year I’ve had to net the blackberries. We’ve tried everything we can think of to scare him off,” he said of the Robin, “If he stays much longer I’m going to have to give him a name.”
The wild mountain blackberries tend to ripen two weeks earlier than the Himalayan variety, Warren said. One of his favorite ways to eat them is in his wife’s blackberry apple pie.
Donna Sorenson, a Master Food Preserver since 1988, shared her recipe for Warren’s favorite pie (below) and she was also happy to demonstrate the use of a stovetop steam juicer and share samples of blackberry juices.
“The Himalayan blackberries are great for juicing,” she said.
A steam juicer consists of three main parts. The lower pan holds the water for steaming, a middle pan catches the juice, and a large basket on top holds the fruit.
As the water in the lower pan boils and the steam rises, the combination of heat and moisture breaks the fruit open and the sweet, syrupy juice is released. This drips down and is caught by the middle pan where it is siphoned off into the canning jars.
“Make sure that your jars and lids are hot when you siphon the juice into them,” said Donna.
Pouring hot juice into cold jars will break the glass. Which brings up another point: blackberry juice will stain, so Donna recommends that you cover easily stained surfaces before working with the berries in your kitchen.
Once the juice is extracted from the berries, the juice is so concentrated that it needs to be diluted at a 3- or 4-to-1 ratio. Donna and Warren Sorenson also make their own white grape juice and apple juice which they will add to the blackberry juice.
“The apple or grape juice adds a bit of sweetness to the blackberry so you don’t have to add sugar,” Warren said.
Blackberry Apple Pie Filling
1½ cups sugar
⅓ cup flour
1 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups fresh blackberries
1 cup cubed apple pieces
1½ tablespoons butter
Make pastry of your choice for a two-crust pie. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix lightly through berries and apples.
Pour into pastry-lined pan. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust, seal and flute edges. Cover outer edge with 1½ inch strips of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning.
Bake 35-45 minutes or until crust is nicely browned and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
Uncooked Blackberry or Raspberry Jam
3 cups crushed blackberries or raspberries (about
1½ quarts)
5½ cups sugar
1 box powdered pectin
¾ cup water
If blackberries are very seedy, put part or all of them through a sieve or food mill. Measure 3 cups of prepared berries. Place in an extra large mixing bowl. Add sugar, mix well and let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Dissolve the powdered pectin in the water, bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Add pectin to berries and sugar and stir for 3 minutes.
Pour the jam into freezer containers or canning jars, leaving ½-inch headspace at the top. Cover container. Let stand at room temperature until set (up to 24 hours). Freeze or refrigerate. Makes 7 half-pint jars.
Berry Juice
Wash, Crush and simmer berries until soft. Add a small amount of water to prevent sticking, if necessary. Strain through a damp jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth. Measure juice; add 1 to 2 cups sugar for each gallon of juice. Heat juice 5 minutes at 190 degrees. Do not boil. Ladle hot juice into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints and quarts for 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
Note: If clear juice is desired, let strained juice stand for 24 hours in refrigerator. Ladle juice from pan, being careful not to disturb sediment. Proceed as above.
Uncooked Berry Jelly
3 cups unsweetened berry juice — fresh or frozen (strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry)
4½ cups sugar
1 box powdered pectin
½ cup water
Add the sugar to 1¼ cups of berry juice. Stir thoroughly. Add the pectin slowly to the water. Heat almost to boiling, stirring constantly. Pour the pectin mixture into the remaining 1¾ cups of berry juice. Stir until the pectin is completely dissolved. Let the pectin mixture stand for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Mix the juice mixture with pectin mixture. Stir until all sugar is dissolved.
Pour into freezer containers or canning jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Cover with a tight lid. Let stand at room temperature until set (up to 24 hours). Store in refrigerator or freezer. Makes 6 half-pint jars.
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WSU Master Food Preserver and Safety Advisor Training
2010 training classes begin Aug. 23 and run through Oct. and are held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays at the kitchens of Fort Borst Park.
Master Food Advisors receive 30 hours of in-depth training in areas of food safety issues and food preservation techniques. In return, they are asked to contribute 45 hours of volunteer service.
Class fee is $75 with a $25 rebate on completion of volunteer hours. For more information contact Karen von Seggern at the WSU Lewis County Extension Office. Phone: (360) 740-1212. E-mail: Karen.vonSeggern@lewiscountywa.gov. Website: http://lewis.wsu.edu/.
