5 amazing blackberry recipes to help you get through the glut

Unlike strawberries and raspberries, blackberries are pretty easy to find out in the bountiful British countryside – if you check your local hedgerows you’re bound to find them growing. And why wouldn’t you? They’re a delicious balance of sweet and sour when you pick them at just the right time, and they’re bursting with vitamin C too.

Blackberries are incredibly versatile – they work particularly well with both feathered and furred game, as well as in desserts. Read on for some inspiration courtesy of our favourite chefs and food writers – just make sure you take plenty of tupperware with you when you go foraging, and watch out for those thorns!

This delightful chutney is typical of Peter Joseph’s cooking – a little hit of spice gives it warmth and depth, without overpowering those juicy blackberries. Peter fries off his spices in oil, then adds the blackberries and water before cooking his chutney down to the right consistency. Then it’s just a case of sterilising your jars, filling them with chutney and enjoying it until next summer rolls around!

Most of us make a beeline for chocolate when we think of making a mousse for dessert, but as Victoria Glass shows, you can easily adapt the recipe to fit your recently foraged fruit. Make sure your egg yolks are well whisked and your mixture is all folded together well, and you should end up with a beautiful purple-hued blackberry mousse. Even better, the blackberry seeds you’re left with from your purée can be dried out in the oven and made into powder, or even fruit leather!

This blackberry and marshmallow cake is the sort of multi-layered show-stopper we’ve come to expect from Angela Field. The key, she says, is to use 100% cocoa powder, which will give you a much lighter, richer and darker sponge than using regular cooking chocolate. Blackberry and chocolate is a match made in heaven, so while this cake is a little more effort than some others, there’s no question that it’ll be worth it in the end.