Why are my blackberry leaves tasting like sulfur?

Question

People don't always realise but you can eat a certain amount of blackberry leaves (and use them as herbs to make tea for diarrhea and stuff). The tea usually tastes and smells pretty good (kind of like blackberries do, but much milder).

In the past, I had made tea from lots of our thornless blackberry plants' leaves, and it tasted great. However, the last times I tried it, it smelled and tasted like sulfur and was not pleasant. It was the leaves (not the water). I think the plants may have been transplanted, and this affected the taste.

What could be causing the sulfur smell/taste? What is it about the soil or environment that could be doing it? Is it actually a high sulfur content in the soil or something else? How could this be remedied (without transplanting)? Do you supposed it will go away over time?

The fruit seems to taste fine. There might be a stronger sulfur taste in the fruit than before, but it's not very noticeable, if so.

I think we did on our nectarine tree, but it was about ten yards away from the blackberry bushes. Would that make a difference? — Brōtsyorfuzthrāx, Sep 27 '14 at 23:55
I can't find it, but I think you're on to something, because for days after we sprayed, around the yard, I sometimes smelled a very interesting powerful smell that could likely have had sulfur in it. — Brōtsyorfuzthrāx, Sep 28 '14 at 00:00
I can post it as an answer, if you want. I don't see why else the leaves would taste sulphury. — J. Musser, Sep 28 '14 at 00:02
Go ahead. It's not 100% sure that it's the case, but I'll at least accept it for the present and upvote it, as it's a great idea. — Brōtsyorfuzthrāx, Sep 28 '14 at 00:09

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 28 '14 at 00:19

5

It may have been caused by drifting of sulphur based fungicide. You said you may have treated your nectarine tree, which is ten yards away. This easily could have affected the flavor of the blackberry leaves. Especially as they have lots of flat area, and hardly any mass, it would be much more noticeable on the leaves than the berries.

answered Sep 28 '14 at 00:19

J. Musser

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Any idea how long the leaves would taste like that and what if any minerals could help to balance it? – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Sep 30 '14 at 03:44
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The flavor will probably disappear when the leaves do. If this is the case, the new leaves won't have the flavor. Spraying with chemicals won't help. – J. Musser Sep 30 '14 at 03:53
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@user2962794: Spraying it with water may help if you catch it early enough. If not, try picking leaves towards the center/near the base as they'll have less of a chance of contamination. – Enigma Oct 03 '14 at 16:27

Why are my blackberry leaves tasting like sulfur?

1 Answers1