Wild Raspberries

Ah fresh picked, wild raspberries. One of the two unrivaled delights of summer. The other being home grown tomatoes, of course, (blog post on that to come).

I am always on the lookout for a substantial bramble of berry plants during the oh-so short growing season, generally beginning early July and typically gone by mid August. If you pay attention, you can find small clusters of plants growing by the roadside near wooded areas. These can be frustrating because they very often don’t produce significant amounts of berries and they tend to be discovered and heavily picked over.

If you venture into the state parks or other wooded areas where there is less foot traffic, however, you can sometimes stumble across what seems like an endless bounty of succulent little red gems, waiting to be plucked and enjoyed. Such was my luck a week or so ago, while riding my bike off road through Patapsco State Park. I discovered what seemed like the motherlode, a veritable ‘Treasure of Sierra Madre’ of berries. More than I could possibly pick, and believe me I tried. There is something about being surrounded by such a rare, delicious treat, hanging from a gracefully arching branch, free for the picking.

On a technical note, what I am picking are Japanese Wineberries, a species of raspberry native to northern China, Japan and Korea. And, in fact, the raspberry is not a berry at all, rather they are drupes, a stone fruit like cherries or peaches. Each tiny globe in the cluster of what we think of as the berry is a separate fruit with a tiny little stone in the center. Those little seeds which invariably get stuck in your teeth. Also, raspberries are a member of the rose family.

the little gems in their natural habitat

So, with my bounty, my lovely wife prepared a couple of delicious desserts. Here are some shots I took, which illustrate the story arch, from picking to eating. Enjoy.

home from picking and ready to be washed and cooked

Betty's lemon raspberry tart, yuuummm!