The Late Summer Hedgerow

There is a particular afternoon in late August when the lanes round our way start to smell of warm brambles, and every dog walk turns into a slow, sticky-handed shuffle along the hedge. The blackberries come first, fattening from green to red to a deep purple-black. Then, a few weeks later, the sloes arrive: those small, dusty-blue, impossibly sour fruit of the blackthorn, hanging on bare, thorny branches like tiny grapes. Between them, they fill the freezer, the jam pan and the gin bottle for the year ahead.

For anyone with a garden, a few hens or a smallholding, this is one of the great free harvests of the year. It asks nothing but a bit of patience, a good pair of gloves and a willingness to share with the birds.

Know Your Blackberries

The bramble (Rubus fruticosus — the aggregate species, not one single plant) is a wonderfully promiscuous thing, and no two patches taste quite alike. Berries in full sun, on south-facing hedges, tend to be sweeter; those in shade are sharper and often larger. Pick only the ones that come away with a gentle tug. If you have to pull, it is not ready, and it will taste thin and sour.

Watch out for two things. First, avoid hedges alongside busy roads, where fruit catches exhaust and spray drift. Second, if you are picking low down in long grass, check yourself afterwards for ticks — a slow, careful look at legs, waist and hairline is worth the bother.

There is also the dewberry, a trailing cousin with fewer, larger fruits, and the occasional raspberry or wild strawberry if you know where to look. Learn one new fruit a year and you will soon have a hedgerow larder that fills itself.

Sloes: The Fruit That Fights Back

Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn, and picking them is a contact sport. The thorns are long, the bushes dense, and the fruit sits tight against the wood. Thick gloves, long sleeves and a bit of patience are essential. A walking stick hooked over a high branch brings it down to picking height, and a plastic tub on a strap beats a flimsy bag every time.

The old rule is to wait for the first frost, which softens the fruit and takes the edge off the astringency. In reality, most of us pick from late September into November and simply freeze the sloes overnight instead. Freezing does the same job: it breaks the skins, so you need not prick each one individually. Do not be tempted to pick them too early — hard green sloes make a thin, bitter gin.

Picking Responsibly

A hedgerow is not a shop, and it is not ours alone. A few simple habits keep it healthy:

• Take no more than a third of the fruit from any one bush, and leave the rest for wildlife.
• Leave the highest and the most awkward-to-reach fruit alone; it is often the reserve the birds rely on.
• Never strip a bush bare, and never pull branches down hard enough to snap them.
• Stay on the verge or footpath — do not climb into fields or through fences to reach a good patch.
• Ask before picking on private land, and never pick on a nature reserve or SSSI without permission.
• Leave no litter, close any gates you open, and keep dogs under control near livestock.

It is worth remembering what depends on this crop. Blackberries feed dormice, foxes, badgers and a long list of birds. Sloes see redwings and fieldfares through the hardest weeks of winter. A hedgerow picked politely in September is a hedgerow still full of life in January.

In the Kitchen: Gin, Jam and Crumble

Sloe gin is the classic, and it is almost foolproof. For a one-litre batch, take 500g of sloes, 250g of sugar and a litre of gin. Freeze the sloes overnight, tip them into a large, clean jar, add the sugar and gin, seal, and shake. Store somewhere cool and dark, turning the jar once a week for the first month, then monthly. It is drinkable at three months and much better at twelve. Strain through muslin when you are happy with it, and bottle.

Blackberry jam needs a little help, as brambles are low in pectin. Cook the fruit down with a splash of water, add a handful of grated cooking apple or a squeeze of lemon, then add 800g of preserving sugar per kilogramme of fruit. Boil hard until a little sets on a cold saucer, and pot into warm, sterilised jars.

For a bramble and apple crumble, there is little to beat it. Layer sliced cooking apples and blackberries in a dish with a spoonful of sugar and a shake of cinnamon, then cover with 150g flour, 75g butter and 75g sugar rubbed together, plus a handful of porridge oats for crunch. Bake at 180°C for 35 to 40 minutes, until the fruit bubbles up at the edges and the top is golden. Cream is not optional.

A Few Last Things

Take a friend, take a flask, and take a spare container — you will always pick more than you planned. Wear long sleeves, check for ticks, and wash your haul before you cook it. Keep a notebook of the best hedges and the dates you picked them; within two years you will know your patch better than any map.

And do leave some behind. The best foragers are the ones who come back to a full hedge the following year.