Raspberries, Sisters and one big Spider

It’s getting close to Raspberry season in my part of the world, and Fresh Raspberries straight from the garden make EVERYTHING life can throw at you worth it! 

A favourite raspberry memory of mine involves a family story of my two sisters. It makes me smile every time – so I am sharing it with you.   My sister Pearl-Ann used to have a wonderful, big raspberry patch in her back yard in Cold Lake. My sister Wendy didn’t, so she would sometimes come pick in Pearl-Ann’s patch when the season was at its peak. Pearl-Ann also had a VERY BIG spider that lived in a corner of her raspberry patch, a corner the family dubbed “Ted’s Corner”. Yep, they named the spider, it seemed like the right thing to do since he was part of the family so-to-speak.   The family pretty much all agreed that Ted was so big and scary looking, he deserved all the raspberries in his corner. Life is after all, full of compromises.

One day when Wendy came to pick, Pearl-Ann – having neglected (we’ll be kind and say she had ‘forgotten’) to tell her about Ted – stood at the kitchen window to watch. Her husband Brett came in and asked “Whad’ya doin?”
“Watching Wendy pick raspberries.”
“Did you tell her about Ted?”
“Nope.”
“Can I watch too?”
“Sure.” Not surprisingly, the biggest and juiciest unpicked raspberries were in Ted’s Corner.
The kids came up and asked “What are you guys doing?”
“Watching Aunt Wendy pick raspberries.”
“Did you tell her about Ted?”
“Nope.”
“Can we watch too?”
“Sure.”

What happened next has become a thing that family legends are made of, and when it was over, Pearl-Ann was inspired to write poetry:
Wendy wailin’ went a pailin’
to make some raspberry jam.
Ted came a crawlin’, and Wendy went a’sprawlin’
and screamed “I’ll KILL you Pearl-Ann!

In the end, I’m not sure Wendy got too many raspberries, I think some got lost in the ‘sprawling’ part. But she eventually saw the humour and took one for the team – as sacrifices must be made when creating family folklore.

Originating in Europe and introduced to North America in the late 1700’s, raspberries thrive in the wild and in backyards across Canada – a favourite summer staple. 80% of the cultivated raspberries we buy in grocery stores are grown in the Fraser Valley of southern British Columbia. While FRESH raspberries are the best food in the world, they’re only available for 3 or 4 weeks a year. What to do? Well, its freeze dried raspberries to the rescue of course. Always the next most nutritious choice after hand picked and still warm.

5 reasons eating Raspberries will improve your health

1. Raspberries are amazing, with many health benefits, packing a lot of nutrients to keep you healthy. They satisfy your sweet teeth without being high in sugar, in fact they are one of the lowest sugar-fruits of all, even less than apples, making them an excellent choice for those of us wanting to reduce our sugar intake.
2. They are a powerhouse of antioxidants which makes them highly valuable in lowering the risk of heart related diseases, cancer and stress related diseases, as well as reducing inflammation associated with arthritis.
3. Raspberries are a high whole food source of dietary fiber which supports good digestive health, contributing to a feeling of fullness and reducing overeating. Their fiber helps beneficial gut bacteria flourish – good news for everyone, but especially those with chronic gut diseases.
4. Research indicates that adding raspberries to a diabetic’s diet reduces the amount of insulin needed to manage blood sugar levels.
5. Raspberries contain flavonoids which help improve coordination, memory and mood, also helping to eliminate toxic proteins associated with brain dysfunction. They are a top brain-supporting food, highly valuable for those with Alzheimers or Parkinsons because they help counter oxidative stress associated with those diseases.

more ways to eat them

Fresh raspberries are wonderful to eat out of hand, or better yet – straight off the cane, but they have a very short season, and they spoil quickly too, so don’t pick them until you’re ready to eat them. While you can, sprinkle fresh raspberries on your cereal, in your yogurt, over a fresh salad, on the side of your plate and in your morning smoothie. Mash with a fork and sweeten to taste to use as a fresh jam on toast, pancakes, muffins or waffles. Throw them into your muffin batter (folding them in at the last minute to prevent squishing them).

Freeze drying is the #1 best way to preserve natural goodness of all fruits and vegetables, including Raspberries. Thrive Life is my brand of choice – primarily for their NUTRILOCK guarantee which assures me of their nutritional superiority, as well as being completely GMO free, and containing NO artificial colours, flavours or additives of any kind. In addition to that, the shelf life is an impressive 25 years! making it the perfect choice for long term food storage. I highly recommend it! As the perfect example of why I choose Thrive Life over any other form of purchased raspberries, this nutritional comparison to store purchased ‘fresh’ raspberries (below) says it all. Why the difference? Because one of the guarantees Thrive Life stands behind, is that their produce is picked, washed, and flash frozen within 6 hours (usually 2-4) of harvest. In that frozen state they are transported to Thrive Life’s state-of-the-art facility where they go through the second step of the two step process of freeze-drying. They are then sealed in BPA free cans (oxygen free, moisture free). I call that “fresher than fresh”. The only thing better is right out of your backyard garden.

“With THRIVE freeze-dried raspberries you can have deliciously ripe raspberries any time of the year. THRIVE Raspberries, with their rich, red colour and succulent sweetness make the perfect snack, dessert, or topping. You can add THRIVE Raspberries to almost anything! Try them in ice cream or yogurt, use them to top your cereal, make them into sauces and syrup, or you can always just eat them straight from the can. No matter how you eat THRIVE Raspberries, you can be certain that you are strengthening your immune system and improving your cardiovascular health.”
– from the website

While you have garden fresh raspberries enjoy them every day of their relatively short season. Freeze your excess to use all winter long, or make raspberry jam, or add them to rhubarb fruit leather. Any way you can incorporate them into your diet you’ll be better for it.

I’d love to hear your about favourite ways to eat raspberries.

Warmly,
Cindy Suelzle