diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb
index ad9834cf..e000701c 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ module Jekyll
           @errors = []
           load_divs_library if @config['maruku']['use_divs']
           load_blahtext_library if @config['maruku']['use_tex']
+
+          # allow fenced code blocks (new in Maruku 0.7.0)
+          if @config['maruku']['fenced_code_blocks']
+            MaRuKu::Globals[:fenced_code_blocks] = true
+          end
+
         rescue LoadError
           STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
           STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install maruku'
diff --git a/test/test_tags.rb b/test/test_tags.rb
index 0368c6db..ec8f7124 100644
--- a/test/test_tags.rb
+++ b/test/test_tags.rb
@@ -451,5 +451,51 @@ CONTENT
         assert_match "<span id='include-param' />", @result
       end
     end
+
+
+    context "with maruku and fenced code blocks with backticks" do
+
+      setup do
+        @config = {
+          'markdown' => 'maruku',
+          'maruku' => {
+            'fenced_code_blocks' => true
+          }
+        }
+      end
+
+#       context "with pygments enabled" do
+#         setup do
+#           @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'pygments' => true })
+#         end
+
+#         should "render fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting" do
+#           assert_equal "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"ruby language-ruby\" data-lang=\"ruby\"><span class=\"nb\">puts</span> <span class=\"s2\">&quot;Hello world&quot;</span>\n</code></pre></div>", @markdown.convert(
+#             <<-EOS
+# ```ruby
+# puts "Hello world"
+# ```
+#             EOS
+#           ).strip
+#         end
+#       end
+
+      context "with pygments disabled" do
+        setup do
+          @markdown = Converters::Markdown.new @config.merge({ 'pygments' => false })
+        end
+
+        should "render fenced code blocks without syntax highlighting" do
+          assert_equal "<pre class=\"ruby\"><code class=\"ruby\">\nputs &quot;Hello world&quot;\n</code></pre>", @markdown.convert(
+            <<-EOS
+```ruby
+puts "Hello world"
+```
+            EOS
+          ).strip
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
   end
 end