In the Pacific Northwest there are three common prickly plants that populate the hedgerows and fence-lines — blackberries, salmon berries, and brambles. All three flourish without care and create impressive thickets for hiding all sorts of small critters. All three sport impressive thorns.

But only one of them is valued and hunted down every fall. Brambles bear no edible fruit at all — lots of snagging, snarly vines, but nothing to eat. Salmon berries produce pretty salmon colored gems that are beautiful to look at. Unfortunately salmon berries are almost completely tasteless. It is possible to make jam out of them, but they have so little real flavor it is basically like making congealed salmon-colored sugar water.

Blackberries, on the other hand, are loaded down with plump, dark purple…