Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

You can tell a blackberry from a raspberry, black, red or yellow, very 
easily.  Don't need a book or anything else.  A blackberry stays "intact" 
and a raspberry comes off the core when you pick them.  The other way to 
tell the difference is that raspberries grow on canes and blackberries go on 
brambles.

And, no, blackberries are not raspberries but some berries that are 
sometimes referred to as blackberries are crosses.

So, being a berry nut, here's my short course on berries.  1.  You are 
correct in that the same berries or very *similar* berries will have 
different names and some will have the same names but be different berries 
from one coast to the other.  Are we confused yet <g>

The black raspberries that are native to the West Coast are Rubus 
leucodermis.  Generally referred to as Black Cap raspberries, Western 
raspberry, White bark raspberry or Cut leaf raspberry.

On the East Coast you have the Black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis.  Lots of
folks confuse these with blackberries.  AKA, on the East Coast, as wild 
black raspberry, black caps, black cap raspberry, and thimbleberry.

Red raspberries are Rubus idaeus (European red) and Rubus strigosus
(American red).  There are also R. arcticus (Arctic), R. crataegifolius
(Korean), R. odoratus (Flowering), and R. phoenicolasius (Wine Raspberry,
Wineberry).

They are all in the geneus Rubus, subgenus ldaeobatus.

Now, *real* blackberries, on the other hand are from the same genus (Rubus)
but the  subgenus Rubus (used to be called Eubatus).  They are R. fruticosus
(common blackberry).

The Pacific Coast Blackberry is R. ursinus.  The Himalayan blackberry is R.
armeniacus.

Now, for real fun, then you get into the raspberry/blackberry crosses like
the loganberry (Rubus x loganobaccus) and the boysenberry (Rubus ursinus x
idaeus).  And several other crosses and crosses of crosses which resulted in
Youngberry, Olallieberry, Santiam berry, Chehelem blackberry and, my
favorite, Marionberry (Rubus L. subgenus Rubus).

And then you have some oddballs like the salmonberry which is not in a
subgensus and is simply R. spectabilis.  They grow up and down the Pacific
coast and were imported to Europe to be grown as a flowering shrub.  They
have really bright pink flowers.

Now, for some trivia.  The red raspberries contain lots of antioxidants and 
other goodies but the black raspberries contain more of everything.  They 
contain lots of nutrients plus chemopreventive vitamins and phytochemicals 
(Beta-Carotene,
Courmaric acid, Ellgitanins, Anthocyanins, Ferulic acid and Ellagic acid).

It isn't just the berry that is a good thing in your diet.  The leaves, 
stems AND roots have been traditionally used from all the rubus. The leaves 
have been dried and used in teas medicinally as far back, that can be 
proven, as the 1500s in Asia, Greece and Africa!  HOWEVER, it should be 
noted that the leaves of all rubus can develope a toxin if not completely 
dried before use (ie. don't partially dry, you want them brittle and dry as 
paper!).

Lynda
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."  Aldous Huxley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Summer happenings


> Lynda wrote:
> > Been picking a ton of Black Cap raspberries.  The red raspberries are 
> > just
> > now setting fruit.  My Marionberries are flowering and some have set 
> > fruit.
>
> This brings up a topic/issue for me.  Some of these berries, I'm telling
> you, man, I wouldn't know one from the other.  I think in some cases the
> same plant/fruit has a different name by location.  I read someplace
> that a black raspberry is the same as a blackberry.  I still don't know
> if that is true.  So here is my question...is there some definitive
> source that encompasses all North American berries of the
> blackberry/raspberry family, both wild and cultivated varieties?
> I just made 12 half pints of blackberry jam, and I hope I labeled it
> right.  I picked the berries wild from the mountain behind me.
>
>  Went down to the river to look at
> > our favorite blackberry picking area and it is LOADED!  So we'll have 
> > lots
> > of blackberry pies and lots of jam
>
> It was a good blackberry year here, too.
>
>
>
>
> > The veggies are coming along.  We're still getting lots of peas.  They 
> > never
> > seem to make it to the freezer.  Everyone seems to think that the 3 rows 
> > of
> > peas are a buffet and every single time someone goes outside they walk
> > through the rows eating peas.
>
> What kind of peas are you growing?
>
>
>
> > The zucs are already loaded with fruit.  The watermelon, cantalope, lemon
> > cucumbers, pickling cucumbers and pumpkins are all doing well.
>
> Lemon cukes..I've seen the seeds...describe the taste and how you use 
> them.
>
>
> --
> "Never expect magic from no where"  Baringo (Kenyan) working motto
> http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
> EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA
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