Cultivation of red raspberry in history

The fruits are native to Eastern Europe and North Asia, raspberry Latin name Rubus idaeus means ‘bramble bush of Ida’ as name hold another story for its naming when the Olympian Gods were looking for berries on mount Ida.

The red raspberry is a unique berry with a rich history that dates back to the first century when the fruits were gathered from the wild by the people of Troy in the foothills of Mt. Ida.

The fruit was first mentioned by Pliny the Elder, in about 45 A.D. Pliny wrote about “Ida fruits" that were harvested from the slopes of Mount Ida in Greece. Raspberries were not cultivated at that time, but were collected from the wild, primarily for medicinal use.

Dioscorides, Greek physician and pharmacologist, was a native of Anazarbus in Cilicia. In his well-known herbal De Materia Medica, Dioscorides describes the medicinal properties of the Idaean raspberry.

It is believed that raspberries to be first cultivated by Romans somewhere around fourth century AD as expressed by Palladio Opus agricultureae and seeds have been discovered at Roman forts in Britain.

The Romans are thought to have spread cultivation throughout Europe. In medieval Europe, wild berries were used for medicinal purposes and their juices for paintings and illuminating manuscripts. By the mid 1600s, raspberries had become popular in London markets.
Cultivation of red raspberry in history

Red raspberry: Fruit history and nutrition

The genus Rubus is a member of the rose family (Rosaceae), which also includes important fruit crops such as apples, pears, cherries, peaches, plums, and strawberries. The red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) is a unique berry with a rich history that dates back to the first century when the fruits were gathered from the wild by the people of Troy in the foothills of Mt. Ida.

The Romans are thought to have spread cultivation throughout Europe. In medieval Europe, wild berries were used for medicinal purposes and their juices for paintings and illuminating manuscripts.

By the early nineteenth century, more than twenty cultivars of red raspberry were grown in England and the U.S. English cultivars exported to the U.S. were subsequently crossed with North American seedlings leading to improved cultivars.

Each raspberry flower contains from 60 to 160 ovaries. Each ovary contains two ovules, but one usually aborts after differentiation. About one month after pollination, the ovaries ripen simultaneously to form the fruit.

Raspberries are very rich sources of bioactive compounds such as phenolics, anthocyanins, organic acids, minerals, and more. The genus has also very high amounts of antioxidant compounds.

They are among the highest whole food sources of dietary fiber, providing 6.5 g/100 g of fresh weight, which on a calorie basis is 12.5 g/100 kcal. They also contain vitamin C, magnesium, and a variety of other nutrients, such as potassium, vitamin K, calcium, and iron.

The color of raspberry fruit is imparted by anthocyanins. The anthocyanin molecule in raspberry consists of cyanidin and pelargonidin with glucose attached at the 3-position.

Red raspberries are currently the most widely grown while black raspberries are most popular in certain regions of the eastern U.S. The progeny of black and red raspberries have purple fruits; these types are popular in eastern North America.
Red raspberry: Fruit history and nutrition