Himalaya
Blackberries
Blackberry jam and jelly are some of the
best foods available for the breakfast table. You don’t
find them in the grocery store as much as other types of
jellies and jams. When you do, they are usually more
expensive than the others. It’s not unusual for the seeds
to be left in. Since they are small it’s easy to overlook
them because of that sweet unique blackberry flavor.
Mother’s blackberry pie was a favorite. I liked it warm
with a little sweet milk over it.
I think that one reason blackberry jams and jellies are
more difficult to find is because blackberries are usually
found in the wild and there is little room anymore for wild
plants to grow. When you do find them, picking them is a
real chore.
We always had plenty of blackberry jelly as I grew up. This
was due to the fact that we had these large hedgerows of
berries in the side and back yards where we lived. You
don’t usually find blackberries in large hedgerows, and
these were not your usual blackberries. They were large and
juicy and you could pick a bucketful in no time.
The hedgerows were made up of thorny plants that grew about
four or five feet tall. They were massive and would have
taken over the yard had we not kept them cut back. The
berries were larger than regular blackberries and had a
sweet taste, but they also had very large seeds that kept
you from eating too many.
Mother called them Himalaya
Blackberries. Because of the large seeds they didn’t
make good pies, but Mother made large batches of jelly
each summer straining out the seeds. We had jelly all
winter and there was always enough to share with
friends and family.
I don’t believe Himalaya Blackberries are found in this
area anymore. As a matter of fact any type of blackberries
may be hard to find. Every now and then I overlook the high
price and purchase a small jar of blackberry jelly, usually
the seedless type. I enjoy the memories of past breakfasts
as much as I enjoy the blackberry taste.