Rubus contains 375 species spread throughout this continent and further south, Europe, and parts of Asia and northwestern Africa. The Raspberries are distinguished from the Blackberries because their drupelets pull free of their receptacles called carpels, which remain attached to crunchy Blackberries. One of our favorite Rubus varieties is Black Raspberry, sometimes called Black Cap or Scotch Cap, a native all over the forests and fields of the Eastern United States. We find them in moist woodland understories, on the edges of gardens and farms, and in gaps and oldfield growth following rest from disturbance. We weave through thickets to gather basketfuls, eating them fresh or processing them into jams, fruit leather, or freezing them to enjoy Summer tastes on cold Winter nights.

The American Indian Health and Diet Project reports that Indigenous cultures, particularly in the Northwest, have extensively gathered Black Raspberry for cakes, preserves, or drying them for pemmican (from a Cree word referring to concentration of fat and protein). Traditional herbalists also crush the roots for a tea to treat stomach pains, or boil them as a medicinal wash for wounds. As a Rubus, they’re stocked with vitamins, dietary fiber, and ellagic acid. Anthocyanins cause the dark purple color, which makes them useful for natural dyes, but also improving blood circulation, eyesight, and they’re now the subject of clinical trials on cancer treatment.

We propagate our Black Raspberry by tip-layering. We offer selections from wild thickets and also Jewel, a cold-hardy disease-resistant cultivar with the largest fruit. Plant breeders selected Jewel in 1957 from 104 seedlings crossed between Dundee and a cross of Dundee and Bristol. Jewel crops consistently and concentratedly, meaning most of the fruit ripens in a similar timeframe.