We have blackberries growing along the dry creek behind our house. Just a few bushes, but we did not have enough blackberries to make jelly…mostly because I do not get to them as quickly as the birds. The kids and I wanted to make something yummy with the berries that didn’t include the seeds. Biggest is the only one that can eat them…the rest of us can’t endure the bitterness of the seeds. Since we didn’t have enough for jelly we settled on this drink.

First juice the berries. I did this by wrapping them in cheese cloth and squeezing till my fingers hurt. I had about two cups of juice.

Kids Blackberry Limeade Fizz:

1/4 cup blackberry juice plus 1 tablespoon of lime juice (from real lime not the plastic one!) in a glass. Add ice and fill with Sprite. Perfect for the kids but too sweet for me.

Mom’s Blackberry Limeade Fizz:

1/4 cup of blackberry juice plus 2 tablespoons of lime juice in a glass. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla syrup (I use coffee syrup) and crushed ice then fill glass with sparkling water. Nice and tart for me with just a hint of sweet vanilla…perfect for me.

Maybe next year I will fight the birds and collect enough berries to make jelly…maybe.