Black Raspberry Harvest

This may be the best photo I got of the black raspberry harvest this summer. That dish is very small (I believe it is a cordial glass. I inhereted it from my great Aunt Sophie). So it looks to be about 8 raspberries in that photo, and we got maybe 3 or 4 times that over the summer that I didn't get pictures of.

They were good, although a bit sour. Especially at first, I wasn't sure when to pick them. They stayed red for quite a long time like the following picture before finally turned purple.
Some seemed to turn ripe really quickly at first, so I didn't even get to pick them. They ended up looking like this:


The first ones I picked were the sourest. And I really love sour, so for me to say they were sour is a big deal. But a got a couple more after that were plumper, purpler, and sweeter. I think b/c they were on the vine in the sun longer. So the rest of the summer was spent trying to get as purple and plump as possible before shriveling.

It was really cute too because my new dog JJ really loved them. He didn't like blueberries that much, or strawberries, which I read are good for dogs to eat. But he did really love these black rasperries. (I'll post the story of how we dogscaped our yard and garden for another day).

Still pretty good though, considering I just got it as a twig from my brother in March, and they aren't supposed to bear fruit the first year of transplanting.

I also got to pick some from his mother bush once or twice this summer. His berries were 2 to 3 times as big as these, and many many more of them, all sweeter. There were so many, he didn't have time to pick them all and they were falling on the ground. I picked as many as I could, but it still wasnt quite enough for a pie or jam. I couldn't help but think about little house on the prarie again, and how long it really does take to pick and harvest.

At least one handful got smashed into a puree and mixed with seltzer and fresh torn mint. It was awhile ago, but if I remember right I didn't strain it, but wished I had afterall. So I would suggest at least lightly straining the smashed raspberry puree at least through a fine mesh sieve before putting in the bubbly water. (otherwise you get yucky bits of raspberry stuck all on the insides of the glass).