Aug 10, 2023 - Food and Drink

How to relish Portland's blackberry season

Emily Harris

A stem of a wild blackberry bush laden with black and red berries with a river in the background. — Blackberries growing wild by the Willamette. Photo: Emily Harris/Axios

The fragrance of sun-warmed blackberries is wafting through Portland, as it does in August. We're catching whiffs along bike paths and by waterways — all those wild edges where the thorny species thrives.

There are two types, broadly speaking: the hardy and invasive Himalayan and the more delicate, native northwestern variety.

Both, we have to acknowledge, make berries that taste fabulous.

But the season moves fast. Here are four ways to wallow in Oregon's blackberry wealth right now.

🥟 Nibble a blackberry hand pie at Baker & Spice in Hillsdale, or take a blackberry lime pie from their freezer home with you.

Berries come from West Union Gardens, one of the many local spots with U-pick blackberries, and also go in the "buttery, dense" tea cakes at the bakery, manager Kat Lindsley says.

🍨 Check out this weekend's ice cream pop-up at the Steven Smith Tea shop on NW 23rd, where Nico's is offering blackberry jasmine ice cream made from Smith's popular iced tea blend.

🥃 Head to any McMenamins, including their bottle shop on NW 23rd, to sip their seasonal blackberry cider.

🔥 Glaze your BBQ with blackberry barbecue sauce, recipe courtesy of the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission.

And remember to inhale that wonderful summer smell of wild Portland.

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How to relish Portland's blackberry season

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