Go wild with pick of juicy berries

It seems as if everyone has their own secret blackberry spot. I’ve had luck along the creek in Glen Canyon Park, and there are a few good bushes along the road out to Stinson Beach.

But I don’t think there’s a better spot for picking wild blackberries than along the ridge behind the Old Mission in San Juan Bautista (San Benito County).

Technically, that’s foraging along the San Andreas Fault, which, on so many levels, is probably a bad idea. But if you’ve ever tasted a lush, perfectly ripe blackberry warmed by the sun and just off the vine, you’d know it was worth it.

Still, you don’t need to sneak out behind a church to find a great blackberry. (And do note: If you forage for berries, know the area. Make sure it’s legal and not on private property, and that the berries are safe to eat.) There are hundreds of varieties of blackberries that snake down from the West Coast all the way into South America.

Many of them grow as weeds, but all of them have deep roots and prickly thorns, a pale pink flower that blossoms early in the summer, and fruit that grows along a vertical stalk.

In Northern California, the berries ripen from mid-July through mid-October.

When you find a bush full of berries, skip the shriveled ones. Go for the berries that are plump, black and velvety. Ones with bits of red or green aren’t ripe. A blackberry won’t ripen or get any sweeter off the vine.

And then there are the trays of luscious berries popping up at farmers’ markets and some supermarkets — olallieberries and marionberries, along with black raspberries and plain old blackberries with names such as Nightfall, Obsidian and Black Pearl.

Olallieberries are tall and thin; boysenberries are their shorter, plumper cousin. The marionberry is a cross between the dewberry and the olallieberry. And the dewberry is like any other blackberry, except it grows horizontally.

But don’t be lured in by the name. The difference in flavor between one variety and the next is almost indistinguishable. If you can sample, choose the ones that are sweetest, juiciest and richly flavored.

Technically, blackberries aren’t berries. They’re an aggregate fruit made up of dozens of little blobs called drupelets. No matter: Blackberries need to be rushed into the refrigerator as soon as they get home.

Open the pack and remove any squishy or crushed berries — they’ll mold quickly. Leave them uncovered in the refrigerator to allow any moisture to escape.

Even so, blackberries won’t last more than two or three days. Don’t wash the berries until the moment you’re ready to eat them.

Better yet, can them. It’s a painless, simple process that takes less than 30 minutes.

Drop some berries in the jar, top them off with sugar, and drop the jar in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. You’ll end up with berries that are as sweet and plump as fresh ones, but won’t spoil for another two years or more.

Pull a jar off the shelf, and bake the berries into a cobbler or pie, use them to top off an ice cream sundae, or drop into a smoothie.

Nothing, of course, tastes like awarm summer day the way a wild blackberry does. But these will give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling, nonetheless.