Description:
A decidious Shrub growing to 2m by 1.5m.
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.
Distribution and habitat:
Woodland Garden; Sunny Edge; Dappled Shade; Shady Edge.
Raspberry grows in Europe, including Britain, from Iceland south
and east to Spain and temperate Asia.
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.
Hystory:
The Raspberry grows wild as far north as lat. 70 degrees,
and southward it appears to have been abundant on Mount Ida,
in Asia Minor, lat. 39 degrees 40'. It was known to the Ancients,
and Linnaeus retained the classic name of Ida, with which it
was associated by Dioscorides. It was called in Greek Batos
Idaia, and in Latin Rubus Idaea, the Bramble of Mount Ida.
Gerard calls it Raspis or Hindberry, and Hindberry is a derivation
of the Saxon name Hindbeer.
Parts used:
Leaves, fruit.
Constituens:
The Raspberry contains a crystallizable fruit-sugar, a fragrant
volatile oil, pectin, citric and malic acids, mineral salts,
colouring matter and water. The ripe fruit is fragrant, subacid
and cooling: it allays heat and thirst, and is not liable to
acetous fermentation in the stomach.
Raspberry vinegar is an acid syrup made with the fruit-juice,
sugar and white-wine vinegar, and when added to water forms
an excellent cooling drink in summer, suitable also in feverish
cases, where the acid is not an objection. It makes a useful
gargle for relaxed, sore throat.
A home-made wine, brewed from the fermented juice of ripe Raspberries,
is antiscrofulous, and Raspberry syrup dissolves the tartar
of the teeth.
The fruit is also utilized for dyeing
purposes.
Edible Uses:
Edible Parts: Fruit; Root; Stem.
Edible Uses: Coffee; Tea.
Fruit - raw or cooked. Delicious when eaten out of hand, the
fruit is also used in pies, preserves etc. Root - cooked. The
root, which should be neither too young nor too old, requires
a lot of boiling. Young shoots - peeled and eaten raw or cooked
like asparagus. They are harvested as they emerge through the
ground in the spring and whilst they are still tender. A herb
tea is made from the dried leaves. Another report says that
a type of tea made from raspberry and blackberry leaves is
an excellent coffee substitute.
Medicinal Uses:
Antiinflammatory;
Astringent;
Birthing aid;
Cardiac;
Decongestant;
Oxytoxic.
Antiemetic.
The leaves and roots are anti-inflammatory, astringent, decongestant, ophthalmic,
oxytocic and stimulant.
A tea made from them is used in the treatment of diarrhoea,
as a tonic for the uterus to strengthen pregnant women, and
as an aid in childbirth. The tea has also been shown as effective
in relieving painful menstrual cramps. The active ingredients
both stimulate and relax the uterus. They can be used during
the last three months of pregnancy and during childbirth, but
should not be used earlier. Externally, the leaves and roots
are used as a gargle to treat tonsillitis and mouth inflammations,
as a poultice and
wash to treat sores, conjunctivitis, minor wounds, burns and
varicose ulcers. The leaves are harvested in the summer and
dried for later use. The fruit is
antiscorbutic
and
diuretic.
Fresh raspberry juice, mixed with a little honey, makes an
excellent
refrigerant beverage
to be taken in the heat of a fever. Made into a syrup, it is
said to have a beneficial effect on the heart.
Others Uses:
Cosmetict;
Dye;
Paper.
A purple to dull blue dye is
obtained from the fruit. A fibre obtained from the stems is
used in making paper.
The stems are harvested in the summer after the fruit has
been eaten, the leaves are removed and the stems are steamed
until the fibres
can be stripped. The fibres
are cooked for 2 hours with lye and then hand beaten with
mallets or ball milled for 3 hours. The paper is
light brown in colour. A
decongestant
face-mask made from the fruit is used cosmetictally
to soothe reddened skin.
Dosage and recipes:
Infusion: Pour a cup of boiling water onto 2 teaspoonfuls
of the dried herb and let infuse for 10-15 minutes. This
may be drunk freely.
Tincture: take 2-4 ml of the tincture three times a day.
Raspberry Wine
To every 3 pints of fruit, carefully cleared from mouldy
or bad, put 1 quart of water; bruise the former. In
24 hours strain the liquor and put to every quart 1
lb. of sugar, of good middling quality, of Lisbon.
If for white currants, use lump sugar. It is best to
put the fruit, etc., into a large pan, and when, in
three or four days, the scum rises, take that off before
the liquor be put into the barrel. Those who make from
their own gardens may not have a sufficiency to fill
the barrel at once; the wine will not hurt if made
in the pan in the above proportions, and added as the
fruit ripens, and can be gathered in dry weather.
Keep an account of what is put in each time.
Raspberry Vinegar
Raspberry Vinegar is made either with malt vinegar or
white vinegar (i.e. either white-wine vinegar or dilute
acetic acid). Malt vinegar adds to the colour, which
with white vinegar generally needs the addition of a
little caramel to deepen it. When made from the fruit
2 lb. of raspberries is required to a pint of vinegar.
Another method is to acidulate Raspberry-juice with acetic
acid and sweeten with plain syrup.
Raspberry Vinegar
Put 1 lb. of fine fruit into a china-bowl, and pour upon
it 1 quart of the best white-wine vinegar; next day strain
the liquor on 1 lb. of fresh raspberries; and the following
day do the same, but do not squeeze the fruit, only drain
the liquor as dry as you can from it. The last time pass
it through a canvas, preciously wet with vinegar, to
prevent waste. Put it into a stone jar, with 1 lb. of
sugar to every pint of juice, broken into large lumps;
stir it when melted, then put the jar into a saucepan
of water or on a hot hearth, let it simmer and skim it.
When cold, bottle it.
This is one of the most useful preparations that can
be kept in a house, not only as affording the most refreshing
beverage, but being of singular efficacy in complaints
of the chest. A large spoonful or two in a tumbler of
water. Be careful to use no glazed nor metal vessels
for it.
-----(Old Cookery-Book.)
Raspberry Brandy
Pick fine dry fruit, put it into a stone jar, and the
jar into a kettle of water, or on a hot hearth, till
the juice will run; strain, and to every pint add 1/2
lb. of sugar, give one boil and skim it; when cold, put
equal quantities of juice and brandy, shake well and
bottle. Some people prefer it stronger of the brandy.
-----(Old Cookery-Book.)
Safety:
None known
