Why Late Summer Hedgerows Are Worth the Walk

By mid-August, the hedgerows along our quieter lanes are weighed down with blackberries. It is one of the last genuinely free harvests left to anyone with a pair of sturdy boots and an hour to spare, and the reward — a crumble with the sharpness of a proper hedgerow fruit, or jars of jam put by for Christmas — is worth far more than the price of a supermarket punnet. Yet the difference between a lovely morning's foraging and a spoiled batch of jam usually comes down to a few practical habits: picking the right lane, choosing fruit at its peak, and taking only what the wildlife can spare.

Choosing a Safe Lane to Pick From

The best blackberries grow where the air is clean and the traffic is thin. Busy A-roads are tempting because the verges are wide and unpicked, but fruit growing low down there will be dusted with exhaust particles, and standing with your back to fast-moving traffic is genuinely dangerous. Look instead for single-track lanes, bridleways, old railway paths and the edges of village recreation grounds.

• Park properly in a lay-by or a wide verge, never half on the carriageway or on a blind bend.
• Work facing oncoming traffic so you can step aside in good time.
• Pick from waist height and above on any road, and avoid fruit within a metre of a kerb.
• Wear long sleeves and gloves — brambles are unforgiving, and nettles often grow right alongside them.
• Check for ticks afterwards, particularly on arms, ankles and the hairline.

Also steer clear of hedges bordering crop fields where spraying may recently have taken place, and never gather from a verge with a warning sign or a freshly strimmed, chemical-smelling edge.

How to Spot Fruit That's Truly Ripe

A blackberry tells you plainly when it is ready. It should be a deep, dull black with the faint bloom still on it, and it should come away in your hand with the gentlest of tugs, leaving the white core behind on the stem. If you have to pull hard, it is not ready.

• Red or pink fruit is unripe and mouth-puckeringly sour — leave it for next week's walk.
• Firm, glossy black berries are usually still a day or two short of their best.
• Fruit with grey fuzz, brown patches or a leaking, stained look has spoiled or been frosted; leave it alone.
• Large, hollow, dry-looking berries are often over-ripe and best left for the birds.

Blackberries ripen from late July through September, with a second flush in mild Octobers. Early in the season, concentrate on the sunniest, south-facing stretches; later on, the fruit in shadier spots will catch up. Taste one before you commit to a patch — if it is sharp, move along the lane.

Picking with Care: Etiquette and Wildlife

Hedgerows are not a larder laid on for us. They are the winter food store for blackbirds, thrushes, field mice, dormice and a host of insects, and a badly stripped hedge can mean a lean spring for everything that lives in it. The old country rule is simple: take a little from many bushes rather than everything from one.

Leave the highest fruit, which the birds prefer anyway, and the berries deep inside the hedge. Never break branches or trample the hedge base to reach a good patch; if a bramble needs easing aside, use a walking stick with a hooked handle rather than your hands. On public footpaths and roadside verges you may pick fruit for your own use, but always ask before foraging on private land, and do not dig up plants.

Kit, Handling and Getting the Harvest Home

Blackberries bruise easily, so shallow containers beat deep bags every time. A trug, a mushroom basket or a couple of large ice-cream tubs lined with a cloth will carry far more fruit home intact than a carrier bag will.

• Take gloves, a hooked stick, a flask and a spare tub for the fruit you eat on the way round.
• Pick into small layers rather than heaping berries deep, and keep the tub out of direct sun.
• Drive home with the windows open if the boot is warm, and refrigerate the fruit as soon as you are back.
• To freeze, spread the berries on a tray in a single layer, freeze, then tip into bags — they will keep their shape for crumbles.

From Hedge to Jam Pan

Wash only what you are about to use. A quick rinse in a bowl of cold water will float off dust and the odd stray insect; a gentle soak in lightly salted water will coax out anything hiding in the crevices, after which a rinse is enough. For jam, use equal weights of fruit and sugar with a good squeeze of lemon, and simmer until a spoonful wrinkles on a chilled saucer. For a crumble, cook the fruit briefly with a little sugar first, then top and bake — the flavour of a hedgerow harvest is worth every scratch on your forearms.