What's the world whose delicate fruit?
It just might be - the raspberry!
Because a raspberry is so fragile, it's only
touched once by human hands. When a
harvester picks it off the plant, it goes
directly into the container you buy.
But before we even get to harvest, we need to
find out: How Does It Grow?
Shirley Kline has been growing raspberries for nearly 20 years,
and she's a Cornell educated expert in Vegetable Science.
Raspberry plants are called "brambles", and Shirley grows hers in
structures called "High Tunnels", which retain the heat.
These tunnels help produce two more months of fruit than outdoor brambles.
Bramble roots can live around 20 years, but every year the roots send up
new stems called "Canes". They live for two
years, then die.
(Shirley): I've come up with a little mnemonic device...to help you...after fruiting, if the cane is green, let it be;
after fruiting if the cane is brown, cut it down.
When the brambles flower, natural pollinators get busy spreading the pollen.
the pollinated flowers transformed into raspberries.
They're ready to be harvested, when they
turn from green to red - or black - and pull
easily from the cane.
So why exactly is a raspberry so delicate?
Because it's really a cluster
of more than 100 individual fruits!
See, each juice bubbles - that's a single fruit,
called a "drupelet", and contains its own seed.
that's why raspberries are so seedy.
The fruits are fused by a web of
microscopic hairs, which means that picking raspberries needs a super delicate touch.
(Nicole): so I'm going to hold up here so it doesn't break, right?
(Shirley): UmHmm, and you're going to pull it off.
(Nicole): Okay...oh...it came right off...hope this is good! I feel like I'm not going to crush your raspberries...
(Nicole): Oh it's falling apart...
(Shirley): There you go...Okay...
(Nicole): It really needs the lightest of touches...wow. (Shirley): Yep.
(Shirley): And you end up with purple fingers...(Nicole): Yeah...
Now, to get to this point Shirley has battled leaf-eating spider mites and
roof eating rodents. She used traps and
natural predators...everything but pesticides.
(Nicole): And why don't you want to use pesticides?
(Shirley): Well they're poison!
So here's a cold hard truth: if she were shipping
these to supermarkets across the country,
then she'd probably have to use pesticides.
Because if raspberries aren't sprayed against mold, they will start to
rot within to 48 hours of picking.
Even certified organic farmers use approved
chemicals against fungus. I know what
you're thinking...you're going to wash
your raspberries as soon as you get them home. Well, hold your horses...
(Shirley): Never wash your raspberries before you're ready to eat them.
unless you want moldy raspberries...
These days, we demand fresh food all year round,
even when it's not in season. But here's
the thing: our delicate raspberry wasn't
meant to travel very far. To stay fresh
it needs chemicals...Now, imagine if we all
had a Shirley, growing High Tunnel raspberries nearby...