Berries:
In THE BATTLE OF THE CRISPS, barbecue crisps won; salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, and plain salted crisps came next in the poll.
It's now the turn of berries to do battle! With the exception of blackcurrants, redcurrants, rose hips and white currants, I'm taking a literal approach to defining a berry in that if it has berry in the word, then, it's a berry. Also I'm taking a culinary and not a botanical approach to defining a berry. Botanically speaking, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries aren't berries, but bananas, grapes and tomatoes are berries. Cherries aren't berries despite rhyming with berries!
For this poll, I'm only including edible berries. The berries of bugbane (aka baneberry), deadly nightshade and pokeweed, for example, are excluded. I'm also excluding dried berries, such as currants, raisins and sultanas, from the poll.
Though there are many types of berries I've not eaten, my favourite berries which I've eaten are blackcurrants (particularly in a cordial), gooseberries (especially in a pie), juniper berries (I love a gin and tonic!), raspberries, sloe berries (I love sloe gin!), and strawberries, with blackberries being my most favourite berries.
My least favourite berries are bilberries (aka blueberries), elderberries and redcurrants, with cranberries being my least favourite berries. I find cranberries, even cranberry juice and cranberry sauce, too tart. There is perhaps only one type of berry that I'd refuse to eat. I don't fancy eating emu berries, see photo below - these berries are also called dog's balls!
Emu berries:
What are your most and least favourite berries?
How often do you eat or drink berries?
How do you consume berries?
I consume berries quite often. As a drink, I like many juices made from berries such as raspberries. And I love drinking gin and tonic and sloe gin. As a food, I eat berries raw (especially strawberries) or I eat them cooked in a pie like raspberry pie. When I was in Finland, berries were often served up as an accompaniment to the main meal. But my favourite berry food is summer pudding, see photo below, served up with lashings of cream.
Below is a poll where you can anonymously select your most favourite berries. Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll.
A poll on this site can only have 20 answer options. Unfortunately there was no room for acai berries (a South American superfood), barberries, bristle berries, buffaloberries (aka bullberries), Ceylon/Indian gooseberries, Chinese bramble berries (aka Korean raspberries), conkerberries, emu berries (aka dog's balls), goldenberries (aka Cape gooseberries), hawthorn berries (aka hawberries), juniper berries (used to flavour gin), midgen berries, myrtle berries, rose hips, rowanberries (aka mountain ash berries), Salal berries, salmonberries, Saskatoon serviceberries (aka Pacific serviceberries, western juneberries or western serviceberries), sea buckthorn berries, sloe berries, tayberries, thimbleberries (aka redcaps), whitebeam berries, white currants and youngberries as poll options.
I think blueberries will win the poll, but blackberries, raspberries and strawberries may do well in the poll.
I want to thank @EnigmaInitiative for her advice in compiling this poll. Obviously, any mistakes with the poll are my mistakes unless 'other' wins!
Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle of the food and drinks so far.
PS. As a result of some late voting, beefsteak tomatoes have just pipped cherry tomatoes to win the THE BATTLE OF THE TOMATOES.
Summer pudding:
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29 comments
Strawberries for me. I have them on the side with breakfast and in a smoothie. I have them and blueberries daily. My lease favorite is the blackberry. The texture does not agree with me.
I love strawberries but I just can't understand your lack of love for blackberries.
@spunkycumfun Many people don't.
@njfitguy1 Some people just don't get it, they're probably Trump voters!
@spunkycumfun Actually, I wonder if it has something to do with me being a supertaster. Back in school, in biology class, I learned I was a supertaster. It explains why there are some things I find absolutely bitter, while most others love it.
@njfitguy1 You clearly have a keen sense of taste.
I voted blackberry only because it makes the best wine.. If I am just eating I prefer strawberries. Cool Battle!
I've never had blackberry wine but it sounds good.
@pagancountrygirl I've tried strawberry wine. It's a bit too sweet for me.
@spunkycumfun I've actually had cranberry wine. That's probably one way you haven't tried that fruit. It's a more adult alternative to the sweetened cranberry juice, suitable for use at Thanksgiving dinners.
Btw, Trader Joe's markets used to sell a raspberry liqueur years ago that was lovely drizzled over ice cream or cake.
@CuriousHer I could probably handle and even enjoy cranberry wine though I've never come across it here.
@luoxana I must try some blackberry wine.
Another great battle of the berries here.
What are your most and least favorite berries?
I would have to say strawberries and blackberries
would be my favorites and all other berries my
lease favorite as I don't eat any often.
How often do you eat or drink berries? I rarely
eat them at all unless it's on a dessert.
How do you consume berries? Usually in a
cobbler or strawberry shortcake of some kind.
I hope your Friday is a great start to an even
more wonderful weekend..
I love most of them fresh. I’m not realy into cakes and sweets.
From early voting, it looks as if strawberries are going to win this poll.
Strawberries 🍓🍓🫐 my favourite always but I love to try others i love to eat and drink it consuming strawberries 😋 more more especially if with orange 🍊
Strawberries and cream are a perfect combination.
@spunkycumfun Absolutely agree
Before acid reflux, I LOVED freshly sliced strawberries over a piece of angel food cake! Mmmmm. I just love that picture of all the berries! So pretty.
I love cream and sugar with my strawberries.
I like them all except for dingleberries....
Dingleberries should be avoided at all costs!
I was luck enough to find a few wild raspberries while out on a walk the other day their flavour was exquisite.
I've not come across wild raspberries. I can well imagine them to be very tasty.
I have too many faves to pick. As a child, we had wild bluberries in the yard, so of course id come into the house with blue hands often. Next, i go strawberry , raspberry n blackberry picking every season. Then my state is known for its cranberrry bogs, so ive picked crans too. These are all my faves....i have them in drinks n slushies n breads n pastries. Every yr mom would bake a blueberry pie for my brothers birthday, at his request. She would also make her sis in law strawberry shortcake with scratch biscuits for her bday also at her request. i like all that ive tasted, so i can't really say what a least fav would be ~
I'm intrigued about cranberry bogs. Are they actual bogs where cranberries grow?
@spunkycumfun yup....think of a wet marshland with about 1 to 2 feet of water. its layered with gravel n moss and the berries grow on horizontal stems ~
@jajo696 Thanks but I'll let you pick the cranberries in the bogs!
An education in berries!
It's one of the reasons I do my polls on different foods and drinks; I get to educate myself on things I know very little about.
I usually have frozen raspberries, strawberries, mangoes, and pineapple in my freezer to add to my breakfast yogurt parfait. I rarely buy them fresh since they're so expensive. There are farms that offer strawberry picking (pick and eat as many strawberries as you can within a set period of time, usually 30 minutes or so) when in season. It's pricey, but the strawberries are so sweet and juicy.
I've never gone strawberry picking but my tactic, probably like everyone else's', would be to eat as many strawberries I can before checking out!
@spunkycumfun
That's what people tend to do and end up with a tummy ache 😂
@JN63JPN Strawberry growers should sell indigestion tablets at the checkout!
There are wide variations in quality. I almost never buy raspberries from the store but the ones that I picked fresh off of a friend's raspberry bushes were divine. Same thing with strawberries - the store-bought ones often aren't very flavorful, but strawberries picked fresh are amazing.
Berries are always best picked fresh. There's just too much time from the field to the store for berries to stay fresh and at their best.
I love strawberries and blueberries!!! Not a fan of blackberries or raspberries.
Strawberries are great except in a cheesecake. But then again nothing is good in a cheesecake. So strawberries are great!
@spunkycumfun Damn spunky and I love cheesecake!!! Ouch!!
@CallMeMrWrong69 A lot of people love cheesecake. I can eat it but I just can't get my head around a cheese in a sweet dessert.
@pagancountrygirl I'll gladly give you my cheesecake.
@spunkycumfun Only if I can top it with strawberries or any else that I'd like
@CallMeMrWrong69 You can top my cheesecake with strawberries or whatever else you like.
@spunkycumfun I actually bake cheesecake myself and I have made it covered in a thick chocolate ganache, made it with chocolate marbling, covered in guava and only made it one time with strawberries as a topping.
@CallMeMrWrong69 Now you're talking chocolate, my language. I think I'd like to eat the cheesecakes you make.
@spunkycumfun Not to brag but I have gotten really good at making it. It is very rich and those that have tried it always want me to make it again.
@CallMeMrWrong69 I'm almost tempted to fly over to try your chocolate cheesecake. But it's got to be Belgian or Swiss chocolate!
@spunkycumfun Type of chocolate is easy to adapt the recipe. Give me a heads up if you are ever in Illinois. I would gladly make it for you. I am tempted to make it for me but it is too rich for me to eat it alone
@CallMeMrWrong69 If I'm in Illinois, I'll definitely give you a shout. Chicago is on my must-visit list.
Strawberries by a wide margin, blueberries a modest second followed by cranberries. I pretty much have either never had or don't particularly care for everything else listed.
It looks as if strawberries are going to win. I've never met anyone who doesn't like strawberries.
@spunkycumfun My son will eat them til he is nearly sick. Hubs can kinda take or leave them. Daughter falls somewhere in the middle. My favorite is to mix up a little amaretto fruit dip and then dip the whole strawberries in that. Mmm...so good!
@CL_Love Strawberries with an amaretto dip sounds a great combination.
Strawberries are my favorite IF you can get good ones (meaning ripe mostly).
Blueberries are my most common ones to eat. Easier to get good ones, keep reasonably well.
I think strawberries are now going to win.
For the record, Brussels sprouts won THE BATTLE OF THE VEGETABLES, bananas won THE BATTLE OF THE FRUITS, basil won THE BATTLE OF THE HERBS, garlic won THE BATTLE OF THE SPICES, cashew nuts won THE BATTLE OF THE NUTS, sunflower seeds won THE BATTLE OF THE SEEDS, roast beef won THE BATTLE OF THE ROAST DINNERS, cheesecake won THE BATTLE OF THE PUDDINGS, pepperoni won THE BATTLE OF THE PIZZA TOPPINGS, Caesar salad won THE BATTLE OF THE SALADS, green beans won THE BATTLE OF THE BEANS, watermelon won THE BATTLE OF THE MELONS, tomato-based pasta sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE HOT SAUCY DIPS, barbecue sauce won THE BATTLE OF THE COOL SAUCY DIPS, vanilla ice cream won THE BATTLE OF THE ICE CREAMS, capellini (aka angel hair) won THE BATTLE OF THE PASTAS, steak won THE BATTLE OF THE BARBECUE, romaine lettuce won THE BATTLE OF THE LETTUCES, honeycrisp apples won THE BATTLE OF THE APPLES, stout won THE BATTLE OF THE BEERS, whisky won THE BATTLE OF THE SPIRITS, clam chowder won THE BATTLE OF THE SOUPS, sourdough bread won THE BATTLE OF THE BREADS, liver won THE BATTLE OF THE OFFAL, roast turkey won THE BATTLE OF CHRISTMAS FOODS, Old Fashioned won THE BATTLE OF THE COCKTAILS, Americano coffee won THE BATTLE OF THE COFFEES, green tea won THE BATTLE OF THE TEAS, maple syrup won THE BATTLE OF THE PANCAKES, barbecue sauce and ketchup jointly won THE BATTLE OF THE CONDIMENTS, ribeye steak won THE BATTLE OF THE STEAKS, portobello mushrooms won THE BATTLE OF THE MUSHROOMS, beefsteak tomatoes won THE BATTLE OF THE TOMATOES, and barbecue crisps won THE BATTLE OF THE CRISPS.