The Raspberry or Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is a plant that produces a tart, sweet, red composite fruit in summer or early autumn. In proper botanical language, it is not a berry at all, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. In raspberry and other species of the subgenus Idaeobatus, the drupelets separate from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit, whereas in blackberry the drupelets stay attached to the core.

It typically grows in forest clearings or fields, particularly where fire or wood-cutting has produced open space for colonization by this opportunistic colonizer of disturbed soil. The raspberry flower can be a major nectar source for honeybees. As a cultivated plant in moist temperate regions, it is easy to grow and has a tendency to spread unless cut back.

Two types are commercially available: the wild-type summer bearing, that produces an abundance of fruit on second-year canes within a relatively short period in midsummer, and double- or "ever"-bearing plants, which also bear a few fruit on first-year canes in the autumn, as well as the summer crop on second-year canes. In the United States, raspberries can be cultivated from USDA plant hardiness zones 3 to 9.

Raspberries contain significant amounts of polyphenol antioxidants, chemicals linked to promoting endothelial and cardiovascular health.

Wikipedia contributors. Raspberry. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raspberry&oldid=113128592.

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Antioxidant Content:

3.97 mmol/100g

© 2002 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 132:461-471, 2002