Blackberry Wine And
Ranger Mercer

Gladys Burdett

Gladys Burdett was born in a small town called Aillik, Labrador. Her father was a fisherman and caught and traded in fur. Gladys and her father James Chard always did things together. She told this story in Cartwright, Labrador, where she now lives.

ONE TIME, IN A COOKBOOK belonging to my grandmother, father and I found a recipe. It was for table wine made out of blackberries. Well now, we had to try that. I picked the blackberries and squat the juice out of them. We put five pounds of brown sugar with it, and so much water.

We had to put it in a tub for six weeks and bottle it off for three months. We had twelve rum bottles full. We had them sealed and put upstairs. One night, about twelve o'clock, we heard a noise.

Bang. Bang!

I said, "Father, what is that?"

"That's your bottles."

Sure enough. Some blew up. We took them out of that and we poured them in some more bottles. If you drank an inch and a half in a glass you would feel the effect.

When people came in from the cold, father gave them a shot of this wine. It would warm them up.

In the winter my brother was going up to Makkovik. I said to Sam, "When you go up, ask for a couple of gallons of blackberries. I want to make some more wine."