Wild Blackberry Cobbler
Wild blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream
Blackberry season has finally arrived in my neck of the woods! I happened to stumble upon a huge patch of brambles last month when I was out searching for indigo buntings at an undisclosed location. Almost a quarter-mile of trail was lined with nothing but blackberry bushes. The arching branches were covered in small red berries, tart and underripe. I knew I didn’t have long to wait.
Indigo bunting at the blackberry picking spot
Last weekend I returned on an overcast morning with a plastic bowl in tow. As expected, the brambles were heavily laden with ripe blackberries, and I got to pickin’. The scratches and chigger bites I sustained were a small price to pay for my bounty.
Just one small section of blackberry brambles at the spot
My haul of wild blackberries
(I’ll just add here that these blackberries are on public land where foraging is allowed. I won’t reveal the exact location, but I saw others picking berries there when I was birding, so it’s clearly a known spot. I also left plenty of ripe berries on the canes for the next critters or humans who come along.)
Arkansas has at least ten native Rubus species, which can be pretty hard to tell apart. My guess is that these are either Allegheny blackberries (Rubus allegheniensis) or highbush blackberries (Rubus argutus), both of which form vast colonies of multi-stemmed shrubs and produce small black, sweet-tart berries (a.k.a. drupelets). These blackberries are much smaller than the ones you find at the grocery store and a bit seedier, but they taste much better.
Here’s the recipe I used for wild blackberry cobbler, adapted from Love and Lemons’ cobbler recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup cane sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the dish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 heaping cups wild blackberries
1 tablespoon demerara or other coarse sugar for sprinkling
Vanilla ice cream for serving
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease an 8x8-inch or similar baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cane sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk, melted butter, and vanilla and whisk until well combined.
Scatter half of the blackberries into the greased dish. Pour the batter over them. Scatter the rest of the blackberries evenly on top, then sprinkle with coarse sugar all over.
Bake for 50 to 65 minutes, or until the edges are deeply golden brown and the center is puffed and set. Allow to cool slightly before serving warm with vanilla ice cream. It also goes great with coffee for breakfast.
The wild blackberries hold their shape well even after baking, so you can see all the little berries in each slice of cobbler!
