Raspberries

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The wild one that isn’t a berry at all

Summer always means well with us. Warm temperatures, long holidays and ripe raspberries. This small fruit is becoming increasingly popular with Swiss consumers but not enough raspberries are currently grown in the country to meet demand. They can be harvested from June to September and, for some varieties, even until the first frosts in late autumn.

Buy raspberries in a farm shop in your region.

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Short transport routes an advantage

Did you know that, in quantity terms, blueberries and redcurrants are cultivated mainly in eastern Switzerland, while strawberries and raspberries are grown throughout the country? Whatever the berry, growers do their best to ensure that Swiss berries are available for as long as possible. Since berries have just a short season, it’s important to get them as soon as they become available, especially as freshly harvested fruit from Switzerland has only travelled a short distance. Berries lose some of their vitamin C, flavour and aroma after just a short time. They also don’t ripen any further once they’ve been picked, so short transport routes ensure that the fruit is nice and ripe. Enquire in your region about farms where you can pick your own raspberries.

Not a berry at all

Botanically speaking, raspberries are not berries at all – despite their name and the fact that they are referred to as berries colloquially. They are aggregate drupelets from the rose family. Numerous small stone fruits, i.e. the small pips of the raspberry that are surrounded by flesh, cluster together to form the aggregate stone fruit.

High manual labour requirements

Unlike other species in the genus, raspberries come off the plant easily when picked. They are harvested by hand. Three quarters of commercially grown raspberries in Switzerland are cultivated under plastic film to protect them from the rain. After every summer storm, growers see a surge in ripening. More ripe berries mean more work but also a higher yield. So, it’s not just the workers that need to be flexible but the trade too.

Hobby gardeners: keep your spade at the ready

Traditionally, we distinguish between summer and autumn raspberries. The latter bear their fruit on one-year-old shoots and the stems are cut off after harvesting, resulting in new shoots the following year and a single harvest in the autumn. Summer raspberries, by contrast, grow on two-year-old shoots. The new shoots are left on the cane, enabling the raspberries to be harvested from June onwards. There are also black, yellow and white raspberries, by the way, although these are scarcely to be found in the shops. While raspberries are generally popular with hobby gardeners as they require little care, their roots continue to grow underground and will sprout within a radius of two metres. The only remedy is to keep the raspberries under control with a spade twice a year.

A little pharmacy

Raspberries have been cultivated since the Middle Ages – especially in monasteries. The small red fruits are versatile and can be used to enhance summer desserts, made into jam or syrup or eaten on their own as a snack. Raspberries contain valuable minerals, fruit acids and secondary plant substances. While rich in vitamins, calcium and folic acid, they are low in calories. Raspberry leaves are also valuable. Their high tannin content means they can be used to make tea, which is traditionally recommended for diarrhoea and inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth and throat. Caution should be exercised during pregnancy, however, since the tea can have a contraction-inducing effect.

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