New Gardener

sian.simons

Hi all, I have recently moved to Kent and noticed alot of wild fruits I am hoping to pick with my youngest children this summer but I am unsure on how to identify the varieties. I have also noticed that there are tiny maggots in the cherries and blackberries and wanted to know how best to treat the fruits before making pies and jams pls 😊

Theveggardener

Morning sian.simons welcome to the site. Sorry I can't advise but wanted to bump your post up to see if someone can advise you.

Helix

We do quite a bit of foraging, and it’s a really good idea to teach your kids about plants. There are many guides available on the internet to help you identify the edible and poisonous berries and fruits.  Like this one

http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/wfsberries.htm

Small berries are probably to be avoided if you can't absolutely identify the plant, but fruits like in your photo are generally some form of plum (although you of course have cherries too!)

We merely cut out maggoty bits and just use the rest.  For jam making you are heating to a high temperature so I reckon that sorts out most things. 

Fire

With most fruits (not blackberries) if you can't see little holes or blemishes there shouldn't be anything living inside.

I learnt that if you pick a blackberry and the bit where the stalk was is green, the inside shouldn't have any residents that got in that way. If it's grey, who knows? I once went for a blackberry picking weekend in the Malvern Hills. I made five pies and gave them to friends and family, only to realise the pies were full of maggots. Since then I only eat the blackberries with the green bits. No doubt others would have other views.