Red raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.)
[follow the Wikipedia links]
One of Nature's most delicate fruit gifts, red raspberries are a rarity in nature -- one of the few purely red plant foods. This pigmentation is provided by polyphenols, mainly anthocyanins, in the berry pulp and skin.
Of interest to our continuing interest in superfruits and their "signature" constituents, raspberries do contain carotenoids click! but only in their numerous seeds.
Click here to read the research abstract and be sure to chew the seeds for the small carotenoid contribution if you are a raspberry-superfruit aficionado!
In botany, raspberries are not actually berries but rather are compound (or aggregate) fruits, defined as a fruit of many parts resulting from several ovaries.
By botanical definition, a "berry" is a fruit resulting from only one single ovary.
Aggregate fruits like raspberries are comprised of many individuals grouped (aggregated) together, each with a single seed. Individual fruits in an aggregate are called drupelets.
A unique gold cultivar of the red raspberry,
clearly showing the individual drupelets.
Their color determined by a single recessive gene,
golds are mellower and more delicate in flavor than red ones.
Red raspberries are mainly a crop of the Pacific Northwest United States where about 60% of the North American supply is grown.
Whatcom County, Washington State, is the world's largest producer of raspberries -- about 32,000 metric tons per year just from this one county.
More than 95 percent of Whatcom's 8,000 acres of raspberries are grown for processing into frozen berries, ice cream, yogurt, juice and preserves.
Quality and yields are high in summer, but autumn rains discourage growers from competing with California in the fresh market during cool months.
Visit the site of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission for further information.
A Few Facts About Growing and Harvesting Raspberries
- California now rivals Whatcom County in Washington State as the largest US producer of raspberries -- about 30,000 metric tons per year... and growing!
- Russia produces more red raspberries than any other country; Poland is also a major producer
- a raspberry cultivar called "Madonna" (named after a mountain, not the singer), is sold with the stem attached. Marketed like jewels in a flat rectangular box, the berries are intended for dipping in chocolate, like long-stem strawberries.
Recent Advances in Raspberry Research
• Int J Mol Sci. 2008 Mar;9(3):327-41.
click for research abstract!
Synopsis
Red raspberry ellagic acid reduces endogenous oxidative DNA damage by mechanisms which may involve an increase in DNA repair.
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• Cancer Prev Res (Phila Pa). 2009 Jul;2(7):665-72.
Topical treatment with black raspberry extract reduces cutaneous ultraviolet-induced carcinogenesis and inflammation
click for research abstract!
Synopsis
Mice treated with extracts from raspberries had a significant reduction in skin tumor number and in average tumor size. This reduction correlated with evidence for lower inflammatory mediators in the skin samples.
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new Archives just for superfruit essays, click!
Twitter for Superfruits News
We're starting a new online update feature using Twitter, a free micro-blogging service where we can periodically broadcast news updates on berries and superfruits.
Twitter is simply a "short message service" (SMS), just 140 characters for quickly broadcasting a message to our educational network of subscribers for the Berry Doctor's Journal. SMS is the same technology as cell phone texting, short messages being used by over 2 billion people. It's the fastest growing network service on the internet.
And you can reply using Twitter to stimulate a conversation or follow-up question.
To give Twitter a try and receive these news capsules -- even on your cell phone! -- go to Twitter.com and sign up with your own name or handle.
Then visit twitter.com/superfruitsbook where you need to click on "Follow" to be linked into Berry Doctor "tweets" on superfruit news.
