The Raspberries Are ON!!!

We have a small raspberry patch in our city back yard.  When we were discussing which varieties of berries to plant the decision was easy.  Bear Lake raspberries of course, for our red variety.

Bear Lake is a  beautiful blue-green mountain lake on the border of Utah and Idaho and the region is famous for their raspberries.  Now we just had to find out what variety they grow there.

We found out they are Canby, a summer bearing or one time bearing cane.  There are also ever-bearing raspberries that bear once in the summer and once in the fall.  The dilemma was to plant Canbys and only get one crop or to plant a two crop variety.  There was no other choice but Canbys for us.  You wouldn't believe the flavor and size of this berry.  It is SO WORTH IT to only harvest one bunch of berries if it's this variety.  This berry is superior in every way to an ever-bearer.  So we sacrifice a bit in yield to have what we consider THE BEST, the Cadillac of the bunch.

Just look at the size of the berries.  The bushes are loaded with them and Canby has tall canes; up to 8 feet tall.  The fruit grows on second year canes so this year's new canes produce berries next year. 

This berry is ready to pick.  Don't harvest them until they totally pull away from the receptacle on their own (the white part in the center) like this.  You will not need to tug on them at all; they practically fall off in your hand. Once a cane has stopped bearing I cut it off at the soil. I trim the first year canes down to about 5 ft. so we get bigger berries and let them go until next year.  We give them a lot of water when they are bearing and fertilize them a bit in the fall.  That's it. 

We also have Fall Gold berries that are ever-bearing.  They produce their large crop in the fall with less berries in summer.  They have smaller, rounder, peach-colored berries and they are totally different, milder and more sugary in flavor than the Canby.  This one is ripe and ready to pick.  See how it has come away from the receptacle?  I love to mix the two berries in a recipe.  They are so pretty together.

Stay tuned for a great recipe using the berries; (I have to pick them first).  The hardest part is keeping enough in my picking basket to bake with.  They tend to end up in mouths rather than the bowl.  I won't say whose mouths.  You all know the story of the Little Red Hen, right?