Monday, August 3, 2009

Jewels of Summer


They’re here! The wild raspberries are ripe for picking. The jewels of summer are ready to be eaten. They only come in season for a couple of ridiculously short weeks each year. Raspberries and peaches are my favorite fruits. Lucky for me, we have six raspberry patches on our property. I cultivate them, while some of my neighbors foolishly call them “weeds”.

These raspberries taste nothing like the bland, wimpy ones that I occasionally resort to purchasing at the grocery store. They must be picked at exactly the right moment to get the ideal combination of tart and sweet. I monitor the patches twice a day to pluck the ripe berries before the birds get them. They have to be just the perfect shade of dark red. There’s something so satisfying about touching the cluster of raspberries and having the ones that are ready just drop into your hand. It’s almost a religious experience.

And what do I do with these divine delicacies? First, I fight off the family members who try to gobble them up while they are still in my hand or in the bowl. Then, I make raspberry pancakes, raspberry muffins. This year, I have a recipe for English raspberry pudding and a raspberry cake that I’m dying to try. And I will freeze a small container so that on my birthday, in November, I can have raspberry pancakes even though the bushes have lost their leaves and are packed in compost, preparing for next year’s bounty.

Wish you were here to share them with us!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those sure do look good! Wish I could be there to have some!

detroit dog said...

Oh, fresh fruit!

Trée said...

I love raspberries. Great source of natural fiber. Those look delicious!

Dusty Devoe said...

Yummy! I love raspberries too!

Deejbrown said...

Oh, I wish to be there to enjoy them as well! Love raspberries and the religious experience that goes with them! Truly food for the gods!

Grey Horse Matters said...

Sounds like you have some delicious plans in your future!

Ralph Suarez said...

I really enjoy your blog and while I don't have the opportunity to come here a lot, when I do, like today, it is a really HUGE blessing. Thanks so much and I LOVE raspberries too, especially the black ones which for some reason, are especially hard to find this year!

billie said...

We have blackberries and wild muscadines (there is a lovely bunch ripening as I type right outside my living room window) but no raspberries. I hope a bird might come and leave the gift of some seeds along the woods' edge one day... :)

Enjoy!

Callie said...

Oh Yum!

Anonymous said...

I was excited to see our raspberries were almost ripe, then the bears beat me to them! (again)