Ingredient: Raspberries
Category: Fruit - Soft
Season: July to October
The raspberry (plural, raspberries) is the edible fruit of a number of plant species in the subgenus Idaeobatus of the genus Rubus; the name also applies to these plants themselves.
The name originally referred to the European species Rubus idaeus, with red fruit, and is still used for that species as its standard English name in its native area.
Several other species, mostly closely related in the same subgenus Idaeobatus, are now also called raspberries. Raspberry species include:
Arctic Raspberry (Rubus arcticus)
Korean Raspberry (Rubus crataegifolius)
European Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)
Whitebark or Western Raspberry, native: Blue Raspberry (Rubus leucodermis)
Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)
Flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus)
Wine Raspberry or Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)
American Red Raspberry (Rubus strigosus) (syn. R. idaeus var. strigosus)
Raspberries are an important commercial fruit crop , widely grown in all temperate regions of the world.
Many of the most important modern commercial red raspberry cultivars derive from hybrids between European Red Raspberry ( R. idaeus) and American Red Raspberry ( R. strigosus).
The black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), is also occasionally cultivated in the United States, providing fresh and frozen fruit, as well as jams, preserves, and other products, all with that species' distinctive, richer flavour.
Purple-fruited raspberries have been produced by horticultural hybridisation of red and black raspberries, and have also been found in the wild in a few places (for example, in Vermont) where the American red and the black raspberries both grow naturally.
The name Rubus × neglectus has been applied to these Native American plants.
Commercial production of purple raspberries is rare.
The commercially grown red and black raspberry species each have albino-like pale-fruited variants, generally due to expression of recessive genes affecting production of anthocyanin pigments.
Variously called golden raspberries, yellow raspberries, or (rarely) orange raspberries, these fruits retain the distinctive flavour of their respective species, despite their similarity of appearance.
In the eastern United States, most commercially sold pale-fruited raspberries are derivatives of red raspberries. Yellow-fruited variants of the black raspberry occur occasionally as wild plants (for example, in Ohio), and are sometimes grown in home gardens.
Fruit
The fruit is harvested when it comes off the torus/receptacle easily and has turned a deep color (red, black, purple, or golden yellow, depending on the species and cultivar). This is when the fruits are most ripe and sweetest.
Excess fruit can be made into raspberry jam or frozen
Each raspberry weighs about 4 g each on average and is made up of around 100 drupelets, which consist of a juicy pulp and a single tiny seed in the center.
Raspberry bushes can yield several pounds of fruit (or several hundred berries) a year.
Unlike blackberries, raspberries have a hollow core once it is removed from the receptacle
A truly exquisite soft fruit that needs hardly any adornment.
Served on a plate, spread out in a single layer with a minute sprinkling of sugar, and eat them just like that during the season.
Treat them more or less like strawberries, no water if possible, and covered if you're forced to keep them in the fridge.
Raspberries, like strawberries, also lend themselves to countless recipe ideas.
Damaged, over-soft fruits make marvellous tarts or you sieve them and add icing sugar to taste you have a wonderful sauce for pouring over ice cream or strawberries.
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