North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>]

On Jun 28, 2007, at 10:56 AM, Donna &/or Kieran wrote:

[of red raspberries]

> And the flavor, yes, it seems rather simple.  Tart with a small bit of flavor.  

Are you sure you had fully ripe ones?

They're often picked a little underripe. They will last longer that way; but if you're growing your own for your own consumption, the softness and extremely short storage life of fully ripe berries may be made up for by the better flavor.

Exact color at full ripeness depends on the variety, but will generally be darker than the first red color, which appears ripe to most people but isn't quite.

Flavor of course also depends on the variety, the location, the climate, and the weather that season. But I certainly wouldn't describe a fully ripe red raspberry of a variety with good flavor as "tart with a small bit of flavor". I think they're absolutely delicious. (Don't know about in the South, though.)

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly