The Wild Blackberries here are starting to turn dark and ripen. The black one shown here is now extinct, but it was delicious. It looks like this year will be a good one for the berries and those willing to brave their thorny thickets to get them.
Wild Blackberries are difficult to differentiate from Wild Black Raspberries when the berries are still on the vine. However, once plucked, you easily can see if the berry’s center is hollow like a thimble (Raspberry) or “corked” like a jug (Blackberry). The Blackberry stem/cork is edible, of course.
The plump Red Raspberries in stores are not wild and propagated by birds and other animals; they’re specially bred and cultivated by fruit farmers. (Brooklin, Maine)