Raspberries

RASPBERRIES Rubus idaeus

Description: Plant

Text Box: Slender, prickly stems up to seven feet tall. Three part leaves, small white flowers.

Habitat:

Clearings, roadsides and open rock faces, berms.

Uses:

Raspberries are choice wild food. Excellent raw, and full of vitamins and minerals, used to make jelly, jam, pudding, pie, fruit drinks and desserts. Tea made from dried raspberry leaves is safe and pleasant. For centuries women have used raspberry leaf tea throughout pregnancy to strengthen the uterus, prevent miscarriage and increase milk supply. Used externally as a gargle and wash.

Thousands of tons of raspberries are produced each year in the Pacific Northwest, for sale fresh, at you-pick-em ranches, and frozen. Raspberries grow well in Alaska.

Special Harvest or Processing Comments:

Gather leaves in spring or early summer, before or during blooming - after blooming the berries will start to form, and picking leaves will be messy, with crushed berries in each gathering bag. Crushed berries not only degrade the quality of the leaf, they also slow drying and increase the chance of molding.

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RASPBERRIES Rubus idaeus