Fat To Skinny

Recipe Exchange => Sides and Snacks => Topic started by: Doug Varrieur on July 22, 2013, 09:49:57 AM

Title: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: Doug Varrieur on July 22, 2013, 09:49:57 AM
It's summertime here in the mountains of Western North Carolina and that means it's blackberry season. Yesterday I took my handy berry bucket hanging from my neck with a rope to go berry picking. By the time I was done I had eaten my fair share and picked a gallon of berries. BONUS!!! I found a wild Raspberry vine loaded with ripe sweet red raspberries....so cool  ;D ;D Did you know you can take a container filled with berries and freeze them without worrying that they'll stick together? It's true, they stay separated  ::) We do lots of things with blackberries and this is one of my favs.


Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves

2 cups fresh blackberries
FTS Zero Sweetener
2 tablespoons water

1- Place your berries and water in a saucepan over medium high heat.
2- Mash the berries and cook them down until thickened to your satisfaction.
3- Let cool 15 minutes and taste. Decide if you need to sweeten your berries at this point ( some berries are more tart than others) If you need sweetener start with a couple of drops of Zero, mix and taste, add more as needed.
4- Refrigerate

(http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/IMG_3708-1-480x305.jpg) 

Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: mouseissue on July 24, 2013, 04:28:45 PM
Here, on the West side of the Cascade mountains, we don't see them in numbers
until late August or early September.
But when they show up, they're all over the place like weeds! :o

In fact, I've had pull literally dozens from our property since August 2006 (when we moved in).
Birds eat the berries, and poop out the seeds wherever they fly!

This fall, my wife and are gonna gather a few buckets full for this recipe! ;)

Tony
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on July 25, 2013, 09:45:33 AM
they freeze perfectly and don't stick together ;)
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: Happy2bthin4me on July 28, 2013, 01:11:54 AM
I wish I had such access to berries! Yummy! I would freeze so many! If my property didn't already have a peach tree on it when we bought it I wouldn't have planted it - I would've planted something else because I get so many peaches now I don't know what to do with them all! I certainly won't eat them! Ugh. How hard are raspberries and blackberries to grow? I live in the hot Nevadan desert though...:(  I also ended up with a cherry tree but the birds eat them all before we get any! My husband would at least eat those.


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Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on July 28, 2013, 09:34:55 AM
In the summer and fall we are in western north carolina they grow wild and very easy here ;)
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: Doug Varrieur on July 28, 2013, 09:37:24 AM
YES you can grow Raspberries and Blackberries in Nevada :) The trick, plant them next to an irrigation ditch and water hem with drip irrigation. They are very tough plants and do indeed grow like weeds. Contact your local extension service to inquire about specific varieties which grow well in your area  ;) In the meantime bring your peaches to any local church to give away  8)
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: mouseissue on July 29, 2013, 12:36:25 PM
Hi, Michelle! :)

If you're having problems with birds eating your cherries or other fruit,
put light nylon netting over your bushes and small trees (tied at the base or trunk).

Bird netting is inexpensive and can be found at most home improvement and many hardware stores.

It really works! ;)

Tony
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on July 30, 2013, 11:02:01 AM
I justed ordered some after reading this! Thanks Tony! The critters are eating my squash and eggplant flowers! 8)
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: mouseissue on July 30, 2013, 12:50:27 PM
I just ordered some after reading this! Thanks Tony! The critters are eating my squash and eggplant flowers! 8)

You're welcome! ;)

I know it will keep deer off plants that are closer to the ground.
But there are other critters that might either dig under or through it (like black bears).

I do hope it works for you, Umpa! ;D

Tony
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on July 31, 2013, 10:05:59 AM
There are still lots of berries in the woods for the Bears.I think its the red squirrels!They cluck at me when I am in the garden.I sprayed my last blossom with habenero sauce! I heard that squirrel raising cane in the middle of the night!Killed the blossom though! :D :D I am not the anne oakly type :D
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: mouseissue on July 31, 2013, 03:11:09 PM
I'm picturing a squirrel with a mouthful of habenero sauce screaming and running in circles!
                                                         :D :D :D :D :D

If you keep those blossoms sprayed with habenero or cayenne, the squirrels will eventually give up and eat elsewhere.

Tony
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on August 02, 2013, 11:12:23 AM
Woke me out of a dead sleep! :D  This war! :D :D
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: Doug Varrieur on August 01, 2014, 09:37:30 AM
Time to make Jam!!!!!!!!!!

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/p526x296/10518648_776512019068168_504453890046761844_n.jpg)
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on August 02, 2014, 09:33:02 AM
Love Blackberries! 8)
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: mouseissue on August 02, 2014, 01:36:54 PM
 ;D
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: ereino on November 24, 2014, 01:55:07 PM
We have both raspberries and blackberry bushes.  It's about time to prune them for the year.  Froze some raspberries this year - didn't get as much this year as other years.  Ate the blackberries.  Didn't freeze them at all.  But, did make the blueberry cake from the bakery book.  Delish! 
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: umpa on November 28, 2014, 11:14:34 AM
Yeah! I am glad you liked it! ;D
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: ereino on December 05, 2014, 12:53:26 PM
It's my very very favorite desert!  My husband even likes it and that is saying a lot!
Title: Re: Easy Low Carb Blackberry Preserves
Post by: o0OSusieO0o on December 05, 2014, 09:06:26 PM
How delicious!!