We recently went olallieberry picking! You may be thinking, “Olalawhat?” You’re not alone – I just discovered them myself. Olallieberries are grown primarily in California and are a cross between the loganberry (which is a cross between raspberries & blackberries) and the youngberry (which is a cross between blackberries & dewberries).
Now that you know the olallieberry’s genealogy {yawn}, on to the fun stuff! We picked our olallieberries at Phipps Country Store & Farm in Pescadero, CA…a lovely spot nestled in the hills near the ocean. How beautifully northern California is that view?
Phipps Farm was so fun, a great place to take your kids. Old tractors all over the place and more chickens than you can imagine (Anna’s favorite attraction by far). We went with one of Cate’s little friends and his family. It was just a really happy afternoon.
The kids had a BLAST picking berries, which are ripe when they are BLACK. Needless to say, Anna was almost exclusively attracted to the bright red berries…which sadly were as sour as could be!
Phipps had the largest assortment of beans I’ve ever seen. They were beautiful and I had to resist the urge to photograph every bean I saw.
There are two sure signs that berry picking was a great success.
Sign #1: Ridiculously dirty kids.
Sign #2: Ridiculously delicious homemade jam.
In case you’re wondering…for my olallieberry jam, I followed the freezer jam directions for raspberries from the pectin box.
Hello! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and then count on you to share your own! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
Looks great. Do they sell olallieberries outside of CA?
Comment by Soybeanlover — July 15, 2009 @ 2:52 am
I’m from CA and I’ve never heard of them there berries.
Comment by Ellen Patton — July 15, 2009 @ 7:09 am
My grandma lives in the Bay Area and every summer when we visited we would go pick Olallieberries at Phiips Ranch and make jam to bring back to Utah. Thanks for bringing back such fun memories for me!
Comment by Whitney — July 15, 2009 @ 7:23 am
soybeanlover…I did a little google search and didn’t come up with anything. my guess is you probably can’t really find them outside of CA much…I don’t even really see them around here in the stores…kind of an interesting thing. and as ellen’s comment shows – even californians have never heard of these berries!
whitney – that is so fun we did exactly what you use to do as a kid. serendipity!
Comment by jane maynard — July 15, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
Check http://www.linnsfruitbin.com for all things ollalieberries – good stuff:)They are out of Cambria, CA.
Comment by Doris — July 15, 2009 @ 2:57 pm
Just got back from CA – had ollalieberry jam at a restaurant and it was Really Good Stuff!
Comment by Mary Corbet — July 16, 2009 @ 4:40 am
This looks delicious but I would really need butter and jam in all the corners!
Comment by Phyllis — July 16, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
I remember “lollie” berries well! I used to pick them, along with wild blackberries, as a kid. You just brought me back!
Comment by Amber — July 16, 2009 @ 4:58 pm
Oh yum… that reminds me, I need to take my kids berry-picking too!
Comment by bonggamom — July 17, 2009 @ 5:32 pm
Olallieberries are the best berries in the world! I’m so sad I’m out of my last jar of jam… apparently a visit to Cambria is in order.
Comment by stephanie — July 28, 2009 @ 12:32 pm
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