August 2014
COMMUNITY NEWS
RenfrewCollingwoodCommunityNews.com
Expert canning tips for summer fruit
Love ’em or hate ’em, Renfrew blackberries are delicious this time of year by Deanna Cheng Along the trails in Renfrew Ravine, thick thorny vines creep and crawl over wooden fences and through metal links. Clumps of tight green berries bloom and darken into deliciousness, weighing down from their stems. Still Moon Arts Society director and local resident Carmen Rosen said, in an email, those dominant Himalayan blackberry bushes growing vigorously along the sunny areas are an invasive species. They were introduced to North America during the 19th century. These blackberry bushes smother the native species to which the fauna have adapted over time, she said. Rosen admits she has a love-hate relationship with them. “There are three weeks a year that I love blackberry bushes, when the berries are ripe, and 49 weeks a year when I hate them and try to remove as many as possible from the ravine with teams of volunteers.”
Luscious blackberries can be found in the Renfrew Ravine Park, located north of the 29th Avenue Skytrain Station and south of East 22nd Avenue at Renfrew. You can listen to the peaceful sound of Still Creek below as you walk along the ravine path while you search for them. Photos by Julie Cheng
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Rosen isn’t the only one who gobbles down these treats. Residents are known to snap up a couple as they take in the lush scenery. To savour the flavour a little longer, some may wish to can them for the upcoming autumn season. Darlene Tanaka, B.C. representative for canning company Bernardin, said there’s two types of canning. Water bath canning is for high-acid foods such as fruit and, in this case, blackberries. The other method requires a pressure canner and is for low-acid food, which includes fish, seafood and Continued on page 16
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