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A well-kept mixed hedgerow is one of the great free larders of the British countryside, and it opens in stages. From late July, when the first blackberries darken on the bramble, through to the hard frosts of November, something in the hedge is always worth carrying a basket for. Hawthorn, blackthorn, elder, hazel and field maple all ripen at different moments, and knowing that sequence is really the whole trick.
Two rules before you pick a single berry. First, be certain of your identification — hedgerows also hold genuinely dangerous fruit, including black bryony's glossy red strings and the berries of deadly nightshade. Second, pick kindly. Take no more than a quarter from any bush, leave the low-hanging fruit for small mammals, and never strip a hedge bare.
Blackberries run from late July into September, and they are at their best on a dry morning once the dew has lifted. Choose the dull, deep purple-black berries that come away with a gentle tug; anything shiny and firm is underripe and will taste sharp. Avoid fruit growing below knee height, for obvious reasons.
Wild damsons follow hard on their heels in late August and September. Smaller, tarter and far more perfumed than garden varieties, they hang in the blackthorn and bullace hedges with a soft blue haze over their skins. They make superb jam because their high pectin and acid content sets readily.
Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn, and they are the reason many people first take an interest in hedgerows at all. Ripe sloes are blue-black with a dusty bloom, roughly the size of a small olive, and mouth-puckeringly astringent raw — never eat them straight from the bush.
Folklore insists you wait for the first frost to soften the skins. In practice, pick when they are fully ripe and slightly yielding, then freeze them overnight at home to do the same job. For sloe gin, allow 450g sloes, 225g sugar and 1 litre of gin per batch. Prick or freeze the fruit, combine everything in a sterilised jar, shake weekly for three months, then strain through muslin. It is drinkable at Christmas and considerably better the following autumn.
As October arrives the hedge shifts gear. Bullace, a small wild plum, appears in blue-black or greenish forms and makes a fine tart jam or country wine. Rosehips, best after a frost, are extraordinarily high in vitamin C: simmer them gently, mash, then strain through muslin overnight to make a syrup — never rub the hairy seeds through, as they irritate the throat.
Haws, the crimson berries of hawthorn, are mealy raw but make a beautiful pink jelly when cooked with crab apples. Elderberries ripen from late August into October; strip them from the stalks with a fork and always cook them, as raw elderberries cause nausea.
Good picking is as much about method as it is about the fruit. A few habits will keep you safe, comfortable and welcome back next year.
Get your haul home and sort it the same day. Discard leaves, stalks and any fruit with brown patches, then either use it straight away or freeze it. Freezing berries loose on a tray before bagging them keeps them separate, so you can scoop out a handful at a time for crumbles and porridge.
For jellies, simmer the fruit with a little water until soft, then let it drip through a muslin bag overnight without squeezing. Measure the juice, add 450g of sugar per 600ml, and boil hard until it reaches setting point at 104C. For jams, use a wide pan and skim the scum properly; wild fruit is high in pectin, so a set usually comes quickly.
Above all, keep it modest. A few jars of sloe gin, a shelf of haw jelly and a freezer drawer of blackberries is a satisfying return on a couple of autumn afternoons — and the hedge will be all the better for your restraint.
Rustic Weekly shares practical, down-to-earth guidance on rustic living, traditional crafts and smallholding skills for readers across the UK.
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