Warm, dry weather creates larger and sweeter shop-bought blackberries

British shop-bought blackberries are sweeter, larger and higher quality than ever before, due to the warm and dry weather experienced in the UK in recent months.

But at the same time, hedgerow-picked blackberries have suffered, appearing earlier and smaller than usual following the same conditions as they ripened rapidly – which stunted their growth, according to trade body British Berry Growers.

Shop-bought blackberries differ to hedgerow varieties as they have been bred by expert pomologists to create cultivars that consistently crop bigger, sweeter and juicier berries. For this reason, British shop-bought blackberries were typically five times the size of their hedgerow counterparts, BBG said.

Hedgerow blackberries are made up of around 300 wild sub-species delivering many degrees of sweetness and bitterness – meaning that even in good years, hedgerow harvesting is not as reliable as the quality of those in supermarkets.

Due to the warm July, which was 1.3°C above the forecast long-term average, BBG predicted there were 79% more shop-bought blackberries available in the first week of August compared to the same week the previous year.

Thanks to advances in growing techniques, the commercial British blackberry season now runs for 42 weeks a year. Last year Brits bought 2,576 tonnes of British blackberries.