The dark side of blackberries

Blackberries seem harmless enough. They sit in hedgerows like little jewels, waiting to be picked, baked into crumbles, stirred into jam or eaten straight from the plant.

But look a little closer, and the blackberry has a surprisingly dramatic past.

For something so sweet, the blackberry has a wonderfully dark side.

In Greek mythology, Bellerophon was one of the great heroes. He tamed Pegasus, the winged horse, and defeated the fire-breathing Chimera. But like many Greek heroes, his success went to his head.

Bellerophon became so proud that he tried to ride Pegasus all the way to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. The gods, unsurprisingly, did not approve.

In some versions of the story, Zeus sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus. The horse reared, Bellerophon was thrown back down to earth, and his glorious flight ended in humiliation in a thorny bramble bush, blinded and broken by the fall.

The blackberry’s dark reputation doesn’t stop with Greek myth.

In Irish and British folklore, there are old warnings about eating blackberries too late in the season. One of the best-known traditions says that blackberries should not be picked after Michaelmas, or after Old Michaelmas Day in October, because the Devil has spoiled them.

The story goes that when the former angel Lucifer was cast out of heaven, he also landed in a thorny bramble bush. Furious at being scratched and humiliated, he cursed the plant.

Either way, the message was clear: pick your blackberries while they are good, because after a certain point, no good will come of it.

There is some value behind this legend as wetter and cooler weather often allows the fruit to become infected by various moulds such as Grey mould (Botrytis cinera), which give the fruit an unpleasant look and may cause allergic reactions in people with asthma. Prolonged exposure can lead to hypersensitivity pneumonitis, also known as ‘winegrower’s lung’.

In Ireland, the blackberry warning has another character: the Púca.

The Púca is a mischievous, shape-shifting spirit, often associated with wild places, darkness, boundaries and tricks. Around Halloween, sometimes called Púca’s Night, it was said that the Púca went through the countryside spoiling the berries left on bushes and trees.

In some traditions, like the previous Michaelmas warning, no blackberries, haws or sloes should be eaten after this night, because the Púca had already claimed them.

Blackberries have always felt a little wilder than other fruits. Apples can be polished, strawberries can look delicate, and grapes grow in neat little bunches.

They grow in briars, where they scratch your arms, catch your clothes and stain your fingers, lips, baskets and chopping boards. You find them in ditches, along lanes, in fields, gardens and forgotten corners. They are free for anyone willing to reach through the thorns.

They are sweet, but not too sweet. There is always a sharpness to them, and always a little darkness. It’s easy to see why people made stories about them.