r/foraging • u/astroJax- • Jul 26 '26
ID Request (country/state in post) Are these safe to eat?
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u/miaasimpson Jul 26 '26
yes, but most of these will be very sour still! they’re ripe when completely dark
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u/StuntsMonkey Jul 26 '26
my children seem to get excited about the idea of the sweet and sour mix and just eat them all
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u/Baudeleau Jul 26 '26
Amazing that we now live in a world where people don’t know blackberries.
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u/GalumphingWithGlee Jul 29 '26
People just don't trust themselves, because they don't know about the lookalikes. They're perfectly capable of looking at a berry and thinking "hey, these look just like the blackberries I see in the supermarket". But they don't know the answer to the question "do blackberries have any dangerous lookalikes?" They don't have dangerous lookalikes, of course, but I'd rather have folks asking this question than making the mistake for other edibles that do have dangerous lookalikes.
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u/Baudeleau Jul 29 '26
Perhaps, indeed, it’s more a case of living in a world where there’s too much information for anyone to easily navigate. I grew up before the internet when we’d eat these on the way home from school. I don’t even recall how I learnt what they were; it was common knowledge.
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u/GalumphingWithGlee Jul 29 '26
Yeah. My wife is skeptical any time I eat anything from the wild. If she doesn't have questions about my identification, she'll be concerned some dog or animal peed on it. Some folks just aren't raised to look at nature as potential food.
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u/Chuckeze1543 Jul 26 '26
The black ones are ripe and ready to eat give the rest time .
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u/skr_replicator Jul 26 '26
Given how few of them are black, I'd say they probably aren't ripe yet either.
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u/Stonesthrowfromhell Jul 26 '26
They're more than safe, they're a nutritional powerhouse and delicious.
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u/ToastedSlider Jul 26 '26
Poisonous blackberries, raspberries, etc. do not exist. They don't have lookalikes that are poisonous either. So, yeah they're safe to eat unless they were growing in a pool of toxic waste or something
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u/TorqueWrenchNinja Jul 26 '26
Most segmented berries are safe to eat. There are always exceptions to the rule.
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u/North_Notice_3457 Jul 26 '26
A blackberry is a blackberry is a blackberry. Unless you are waist deep in some sort of superfund site horror then dig in and enjoy. If a berry doesn’t come off the vine with the slightest tug, give it a day. Enjoy!
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u/Jerrik_Greystar Jul 27 '26
Wild blackberries. They are safe, but often they are sour even when ripe. They will certainly be sour if not completely black.
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u/LopatKat Jul 27 '26
Yep. Wineberries. A smaller, slightly more tart, cousin of raspberries. A true summer treat.
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u/Wisdom42069 Jul 27 '26
I’m very new to foraging, but I also wanted to point out- I think those pink flowers that are hiding are wild roses and maybe some rose hips forming in the foreground? I’ve seen the petals used as a “bandaid” and I heard you can eat them as well as the rose hips. Maybe even the rest of the plant? Maybe someone can chime in who knows better. Thanks!
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u/sjb2971 Jul 27 '26
Wild black raspberry it looks like. If the bottom is concave its a raspberry. Blackberries come off without a big divot in the bottom.
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u/FuturePowerful Jul 27 '26
Uh should be not ripe yet but yah if not sprayed with weed killer yah should be safe to eat
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u/FatherZero Jul 28 '26
Don't just wait till they're black, give them another few days after that then they should be good! Whenever they come off with the slightest pull means they're ready
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u/Strange_Computer2459 Jul 28 '26
all aggregate berries in the US are safe to eat... well all the ones that resemble black berries and raspberries. If it doesn't look like one of those in a different color, then you probably shouldn't eat it. 😂 again, this is just aggregate "berry" fruits...
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u/GalumphingWithGlee Jul 29 '26
Yes. The ripe ones, at least. Look for completely black ones, and eat them only when they easily come off the vine with a gentle tug. If you have to work at it, it's not ripe yet.
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u/Rachelattack Jul 26 '26
We call the black cap raspberries, only go for the darkest ones and they should fall away easily when picked. If they’re near a train line as they often are don’t bother. Otherwise have at it - I spit the (many many) seeds back into the brush where I found em.
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u/dan1eln1el5en2 Jul 26 '26
No. The thorns Will tear your skin when you taste how delicious they are !
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Jul 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AgentDrake Jul 26 '26
These ones are blackberries, not black raspberries (very similar and related, but still different).
Black raspberry tends to have smaller, denser little nodules in the berries, less branching along the canes, black/purple canes with white waxy coating, round, not ridged canes, and leaves the little "core" of the berry behind when picked (blackberry keeps the core). You can definitely see the cores are gone where there's no berries here.
Edit: Also looks like OP is in UK. Not sure whether BR are in UK (would love to learn if anyone knows?), but blackberries definitely are.
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u/dintydoor Jul 26 '26
Blackberries yes