Finding Greens, Cooking Greens
by Dale Grubaugh
Well, that time of year has finally rolled around: gooseberry and blackberry season! When I was a kid, the gooseberry pickin’ always fell to me because I was about the only one who really liked them. Gooseberries are about thes size of a pea and right close to the same color.
It takes a lot of berries to make a quart. It also takes a lot of time because you have to stem both ends of each fruit. But end result is worth all the work!
They are a mite tart! Even with lots of sugar, they can make for a sour-ish dessert. But to my way of thinking — and eatin’ — they are the best.
Blackberry pickin’, on the other hand, was always a family affair. No one ever gave a thought to buying blackberries from the store because they grow so prolifically in the Ozarks. There’s not an unkempt fencerow in all of the Ozarks that doesn’t have a blackberry bramble growin’ in it.
Blackberries usually ripen around the Fourth of July.
When they were ripe, the whole family — including the city kinfolk — would pile into the back of Dad’s ’58 Ford pickup truck and go bouncing through the fields or down dusty roads in pursuit of this sweet berry.
We would be armed with bowls, buckets and dishpans. Once the bowls and buckets were full, they would be emptied into the big dishpans.
It always took us kids awhile to fill up our bowls because we would pick awhile, eat awhile, and then throw them at each other for awhile.
When the dishpans (and everything else) were full, we would load ip and bounce our way back home.
The return trip usually included a stop at Brush Creek to go swimmin’. The stop helped wash off all the chiggers, ticks, poison ivy and at least some of the berry stains!
Once home, the berry-washing commenced. Some of the fruit was made right then into cobblers. The rest was bagged and frozen or put back for jelly-making.
While the cobblers were cooking, the menfolk would be cranking a freezer full of home-made vanilla ice cream.
I can still smell those cobblers a-bakin’!
Blackberries and gooseberries are a natural part of life in the Ozarks. In fact, some might say they are a part of the Ozark establishment. We even have a season called Blackberry winter.
Blackberry winter is a cold snap in late April or early May that happens right when the blackberries are blooming.
Establishment or not, gooseberries and blackberries surely make for good eating. Enjoy!
’Till next time,
Elias Tucker
June 14, 2009
plate 1. Gooseberry fruit detail, Ribes sp.
plate 2. Gooseberry leaf detail
plate 3. Green gooseberries ready for a pie.
plate 4. Gooseberry Pie.
About the columnist:
Dale Grubaugh, writing as “Elias Tucker from The Holler” is a valued contributor to State of the Ozarks. He is a man who loves his Ozark culture deeply.
As a Southern Baptist preacher and pastor, Dale has dedicated his life to the people of these hills.
Also, he has worked hard in many facets of the Branson show industry. And he has lived the Ozarks, fishing, hunting, appreciating the wilds that are so close — but so closely forgotten.
— Joshua Heston, editor
©StateoftheOzarks.net2007-2009 June 14, 2009
