The Rubus genus of flowering plants in the rose family is most commonly known for producing the rose, a symbol of love, affection, and beauty in nearly every corner of the globe. What many people don’t know is that the Rubus genus also includes brambles, a woody-stemmed bushy plant with thorns, prickly hairs, or spines, just like their rosy counterparts. Brambles manage to one-up the rose in one major way, however: they bear diverse and delicious fruit that makes its way into jams, sauces, pies, and other culinary goods around the world. This post will cover just a few of the colorful fruits that are borne of brambles.
Blackberry
Perhaps the most well-known of all the bramble berries on this list, the blackberry is a deeply colored fruit that starts out many shades brighter in the beginning of its growth. They are high in fiber, vitamin C, and vitamin K.
Raspberry
While the red raspberry is most common, different horticultural techniques and hybridization can also result in yellow, white, purple, blue, and black raspberries. They are a nutritional powerhouse, loaded with fiber, vitamin C, and manganese.
Loganberry
Popular in the UK, the loganberry was created by accident in the late 19th century by horticulturist James Harvey Logan, for whom the berry was later named. The berries themselves resemble blackberries, but the color is closer to that of raspberries.
Salmonberry
Grown more for its ornamental flowers than its fruit, the salmonberry is a large, yellow-orange berry that resembles a raspberry in structure. The name stems from their importance in the diet of indigenous peoples, where they were often consumed with salmon or salmon roe.
Dewberry
The dewberry is a small, round berry that begins growing in a bright shade of green and ends up deep purple to black in color when ripe. The berries are very sweet and contain fewer seeds than the blackberry.
Boysenberry
Cultivating all the best features of the loganberry, raspberry, blackberry, and dewberry brought us the boysenberry, a deep maroon fruit with large seeds and a sweet-tart flavor.
Thimbleberry
The beautiful and delicate thimbleberry starts in pastel shades of pink and develops into a bright red as it ripens. They are common throughout the northern hemisphere, and will often be among the first plants to reappear following a forest fire or clear cut.
Wineberry
The grape may rule the world when it comes to wine making, but the wineberry still deserves credit as a delicious and vibrant bramble fruit. Unlike other brambles, as the wineberry fruit develops, it is protected by a calyx covered in red hairs that produce a sticky sap to ward away pests.
Featured Image from Paul Shore/Unsplash
