There are three kinds of raspberry. The red raspberry and the black raspberry are the types which are most often grown. The yellow raspberry is cultivated only to a limited extent and more as a novelty than as a staple variety.
The raspberry has long been one of the important bush fruits of Europe. The world plant is native to Europe, and it was named Rubus Idaues by Linnaeus from Mt. Ida in Greece.
Pliny wrote that they called the raspberry ‘idaues’ because it grew thickly on the slopes of Mount Ida.
The first people known to have cultivated raspberry were the ancient Greeks. The first recorded raspberry harvest was from Mt. Ida in AD 45.
Some have suggested that the Ide mountains in Turkey were the actual place of origin.
Record were found in 4th century writing of Palladius, a Roman agriculturist and seeds have been discovered at Roman forts in Britain; hence, the Romans probably spread cultivation throughout Europe. They also used raspberry for medicinal purpose throughout of Europe.
The British popularized and improved raspberries throughout the middles ages, and exported the plants to New York by 1771.
New York State Experiment Station began a breeding program for raspberry in the late 1800s. By 1925, 415 varieties were available and many thousands of acres of raspberries were grown throughout northeastern United States.
Early history of raspberry
