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We finally made it out to Eckert’s to go blackberry picking! They’ve been open for a few weeks and I’d been dying to go! And guess what we did with those blackberries? We made some cocktails!
But first let’s talk about picking. Now I didn’t have high expectations for the boys to enjoy eating blackberries (because they are crazy) but Jude entertained the idea of trying one. And only one.
At first Ezra was like no way, but then he loved them after we fed him a few. Then we couldn’t keep him out of the picking boxes!
So we finally found a fruit one of them will eat! YAY!
Excuse me while I spam you with more pictures of Ezra covered in blackberries. Because he’s kind of cute.
Of course the tractors are always a favorite too!
Now I know everyone is always raving about strawberries and peaches at Eckert’s (and they are awesome!!), but dare I say blackberry picking is my favorite? I just love how the vines hang and your almost feel hidden in the rows!
So once we got home with 5 pounds of blackberries, which doesn’t really sound like a ton, but it is. Like an actual ton. I froze some for future use and I think I’m going to make some jam tomorrow to can.
But first, you need to make some cocktails. We settled on a blackberry mojito and bourbon smash. I grabbed some mint from my patio and then got all my ingredients, you probably have most of these items already.
The ingredients are exactly the same for both recipes minus the liquor.
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Here’s your ingredient list for ONE drink (so double it for two drinks or to make one of each)
- 2 ounces of Bourbon OR Rum
- 1/2 ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice
- 6 mint leaves
- 3 blackberries
- 3/4 ounce of simple syrup (we make our own and store it in a mason jar in our fridge!)
- 1 or 2 ounces of club soda depending on which recipe
- 1 cup of ice
And here’s the recipe:
- In a shaker (I love our OXO shaker) combine your mint leaves, lime juice, simple syrup, and blackberries
- Take a muddler and pulverize your blackberries and mint leaves
- Add a cup of ice and liquor (either rum or bourbon)
- Shake for 15 seconds (make sure you haven’t added the club soda yet or it will explode. Yes BTR did this one time.)
- Without straining, pour everything in the shaker into a cocktail glass, a tall collins glass if using rum and a rocks glass if using bourbon
- Top with club soda (1 ounce for the bourbon drink and 2 ounces for the rum drink) and stir
- Garnish with fresh mint and blackberries
These drinks are seriously simple to make and even more seriously delicious.
BTR is definitely more into bourbon drinks these days, but mojitos have a soft spot in my heart (I miss you Chicago!) so I wanted rum in mine.
Either way you can’t go wrong with either of these cocktails! And I’ll let you know how my jam turns out!
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