Monday 21 March 2011
Harvesting Raspberries and what that hole in the middle is...
At the end of our garden, there lies a cage filled with raspberry canes, and each year in July, we are treated to the most delightful harvest of fuschia coloured berries of the sweetest kind. My husband Johnonymous has been growing raspberries for the past eight years and now there are countless of these fruit canes which have self-sowed over the years.
Although it's not quite raspberry season yet, this is a post for anyone who has never picked a fresh raspberry before.
Have you ever wondered why raspberries have a hole in the middle? I know it sounds absurd, but I always assumed that someone in a factory removed whatever was originally in that "hole" (like removing the core of an apple). Silly me!
I finally discovered the reason when I picked a raspberry for the first time last year. Unlike strawberries, when you pick a raspberry, a white plug or hull is left behind. And that, my dear friends, is why there is a hole in the middle of a raspberry. Hehe.