Raspberry Facts
- The U.S. is the 3rd largest raspberry producer in the world, with 90% of all raspberries sold coming from Washington, California and Oregon.
- One cup of raspberries has only 70 calories but provides 50% of a day’s requirement of vitamin C, 32% of fiber, 6% of folic acid and 5%, of potassium, and all with only 1 gram of fat (none of it saturated or trans fats) and, no cholesterol.
- Red raspberry crops are rotated on 5-10 year cycles.
- There are over 200 species of raspberries.
- Once raspberries have been picked, they won’t ripen any further.
- Red raspberries have made their way into a wide variety of functional foods because of the nutritional, functional and technical advantages they provide manufacturers. Red raspberries are sold fresh, individually quick frozen (IQF), block frozen, as frozen puree and in various levels of concentrations of juice and purees. The many forms in which red raspberries can be used offer manufacturers a great deal of flexibility in new product formulation. Also, given today’s leading market trends for health, nutrition, convenience and natural ingredients, red raspberries match market demands on several levels.
The Raspberry Patch
Juicy treats from thorny canes
- Raspberries are cane berries, which grow on leafy canes that often have thorns.
- Since the early 1980s, acreage has expanded, primarily because over-the-row mechanical harvesters have reduced the labor needed for harvesting.
- The potential harvest season lasts 4 to 6 weeks, and most berries are processed rather than sold in the fresh market.
- Soil, water and pest management are crucial for raspberry crops.
- Despite the many raspberry cultivars, we can find two common families: summer and fall bearing plants. They are both grown in the Northwest, but have very different characteristics and fruit timing.
- Summer bearing plants flower on primocanes (meaning “first-year canes”) in August-September, and then undergo a winter rest, to bloom and fruit during the following spring. After this, canes die, but during the fruiting of primocanes, new canes called “floricanes” start flowering and keep the plant alive for the following year.
- Fall bearing plants, also called everbearing, bear fruit on primocanes from August to September, rest in winter, and then produce a second set of fruit from June to July.
