Itching for Blackberries

Last Saturday we scoured our property high and low picking as many wild blackberries as we could reach. While combing the top of our hill, we startled a deer also enjoying the early evening. The free berries only ripen once a year, so we pick them while we can. Since we were picking berries in untamed places, I told our youngest son what to expect besides berries in our buckets. We called them red bugs in north Florida where I grew up. Here in Tennessee and in north Alabama where we live now, they call them chiggers. Whatever you call them in your parts, they’re sure to leave a remarkably red bite on your skin in all the wrong places! Our son couldn’t understand how something he couldn’t see or feel while berry picking was going to bite him. But seeing him scratching three days in a row, let’s me know that he understands now.

It took a full day or so before I felt the full effects of the chiggers. Then, it was time to hit the cabinets in search of relief. As a child, my dad taught us to paint fingernail polish on our red bug bites. He still practices that remedy and I have bed sheets to prove it. He uses the brightest shade of red fingernail polish he can find to help him easily locate the spots when a second coat of polish is needed. I’ve been experimenting with other remedies. Since this is usually a once a year event I tend to forget what I did the year before for relief. First, I tried Tea Tree Oil, which should also help heal the bites. But it didn’t really stop the itching. I tried hydrocortisone cream. I’ve heard a dab of ammonia works, but I don’t have any on hand. Lowell suggested I try using the window cleaner because it had ammonia in it, but I knew his suggestion was more for humor than medicine. Laughter is good medicine and it did take my mind off the itching momentarily. Finally I got the bright idea to use Calamine Lotion. That seems to work the best for me. If you’ve got a remedy to recommend, I’m all ears and scratching to hear it!

We picked 3 quarts of wild blackberries that evening and even though they were free, I’m wondering if the price that I am continuing to pay was really worth it. I guess I’ll find out the next time I serve my Wild Blackberry Ambrosia.

If you’d like to try my Wild Blackberry Ambrosia, a definite cool and sweet treat to beat the summer heat, it’s found in Citrus Morning, Noon & Night: A Citrus Cookbook. Visit Holly Creek Books for more information. In Tennessee country cooks make blackberry dumplings. I’d love to have a recipe if anyone has a good one to share!

Itching in my Kitchen,
Deborah Tukua