Raspberry is a plant that produces a tart, sweet, red fruit. It typically blooms in late summer or early autumn. In literal terms, raspberry is not actually a berry at all, but rather an aggregate fruit with drupelets found around its center core. When a raspberry is picked, the drupelets separate from the center core, leaving a hollow fruit. On the other hand, the drupelets in blackberries stay attached to the core when it is picked.
Raspberry usually grows in fields or forest clearings, particularly thriving in areas where wood clearing or fire has produced an open space as well as disturbed soil. Honeybees tend to use the raspberry flower as a major source of nectar. Raspberry grows easily in moist, temperate regions and has a tendency to spread if not cut back.
There are basically two types of raspberry available to consumers. The first is wild, summer raspberry that produces a large amount of fruit rather quickly during the middle of the summer. The second is the ever-bearing or double plants which bears fruit on first-year canes in the fall.
Today, fresh or dried raspberry leaves are often used in the production of medicinal and herbal teas. The raspberry leaves have an astrigent flavor and are said to aid in regulating the menstrual cycle in women. Raspberry is also said to contain significant amounts of chemicals that promote cardiovascular and endothilial health such as polyphenol antioxidants. An alternative sweetner known as Xylitol can also be extracted from the raspberry leaves.