RASPBERRY (Rubus
idaeus)
Family: Rosaceae
 |
Raspberry fruits.
(Hailsham, June 2008)
|
 |
Raspberry fruits showing
internal pithy core. (Hailsham, June
2008)
|
The soft texture and combination of sweetness and tartness
make wild raspberries one of the tastiest wild fruits; they can be eaten raw or
made into jams and pies (Plants For A Future [PFAF] database).
The fruits contain 4.42g sugars per 100g (mainly glucose and fructose with a
little sucrose; see NutritionValue online database),
countered by moderately high levels of citric and malic acid (NB: in comparison
with cultivated raspberries, values of sugars and organic acids are higher in
the wild species; Mikulic-Petkovsek et al. 2012; see also: Ali et al. 2011). Raspberries
are also high in ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The copper content in the fruits is
thought likely to be important in blood formation and in producing adrenaline
from dopamine (cf. Spencer et al. 2011).
 |
Edible bud on raspberry cane.
(Hailsham, March 2009)
|
Medicinal and
nutritional uses
Rubus idaeus plant
parts are commonly used both as medicinal and edible resources. The stems, twigs,
leaves and fruits are frequently cited in literature describing traditional
uses in association with treatments for flu, colds, coughs, sore throats and
fevers, and particularly in eastern Europe; for example, in Estonia (Sõukand and Kalle 2013), in Bukovina (a region divided
by the border between Ukraine and Romania since 1940) by the Hutsuls (Sõukand and Pieroni 2016); in Roztochya,
western Ukraine (Styramets et al. 2015); and in the Liubań district of Belarus (Sõukand et al. 2017; see also: Łuczaj et
al. 2013). A decoction of raspberry
leaves is used to treat migraines in the Mainarde Mountains in south-central
Italy (Fortini et al. 2016) and an infusion of flowers in olive oil is a common
remedy for skin wounds caused by insects and snakes in Kosovo (Jarić et al. 2018). Other uses include as a fruit ‘poultice’ to treat dry
skin and an infusion of leaves taken as a muscle relaxant in childbirth in Valfurva,
northern Italy (Dei Cas et al.
2015).
Ways in which
raspberries can be prepared for consumption are as varied and widely reported
in the ethnobotanical literature. In southern Bulgaria a type of fruit pickle called ‘vódenu’ is made with raspberries, either on their
own or with other fruits (e.g., wild apples, pears, plums, medlars,
blackberries, lingonberries), to which water is added and followed by fermentation (Sõukand et al. 2015); the authors describe processes involved: “After fermentation is complete, the liquid found
in the bottom of the container will have a pleasantly acidic taste. This liquid
is then drained and drunk, while additional water is added to the top of the container
for continued fermentation. This process continues until the character of the liquid
has a fruity taste. Local people call it ‘liuto’ (люто),
which means spicy, because of its unique and specific
taste.” (Sõukand et al. 2015: 293). The resultant vitamin-rich liquor is drunk during
the winter when fresh produce is scarce. In Estonia one year old raspberry
stems are used for making tea and in response to questionnaires about traditional
methods of making this many recounted: “pots
of raspberry stem tea remaining at the edge of the stove all day in winter,
with the liquid acquiring a more intense colour and taste at the end of the day”
(Sõukand and Kalle 2013: 169). Until about 30 years ago
villagers living in western Turkey in the raspberry-rich forests of Mount Ida
(modern Kazdağı[i])
made ‘fruit leather’ from mushed or boiled fruits (Hillman unpublished field
notes).
In much of the literature on recent hunter-gatherers there
are accounts of raspberry fruits being stored overwinter. This certainly seems
to have been standard practice amongst many indigenous peoples of North America;
for example, the Woods Cree preserved them dried together with fish or in fish
oil (Leighton 1982: 22-23); the Okanagan-Colville also dried the berries and
then crushed them to make juice (Turner et al. 1980: 94); and the Fisherman-Lake
Slave “boiled them and placed them in
birch-bark baskets in the sun to dry, then stored the dried loaves in a cache,
to be broken into pieces and boiled before being eaten” (Kuhnlein and
Turner 1991: 255).
The potential contribution of raspberries to the diet is
increased because they can be stored (NB: as is also the case for many other fruits
presented in the Wild Plant Foods of
Britain blog). In reconstructions of the diet of the ancient Huron Indians
it has been calculated that, despite the fact that maize was cultivated as a staple
crop, wild raspberries and other soft fruits probably met a quarter of the
annual calorific needs, as well as supplying provitamin A (β-carotene),
vitamins B1, B2 and C, and minerals such as calcium, iron, potassium,
phosphorus and copper (Monkton 1992).
Prehistoric and historic
usage
Rubus idaeus pips are
common on archaeological sites of all periods (for references see: Kroll 1998:
43). They are often preserved in large quantities in anaerobic conditions in
waterlogged contexts where decay of organic materials is prevented (Jacomet
2013: 499-500). Some of the earliest records of waterlogged pips are from the Mesolithic
sites of Tågerup in southern
Sweden (dated to the earlier Kongemose culture; Regnell 2012) and
Tybrind Vig in Denmark (dated to the later Ertebølle culture; Kubiak-Martens
1999). And, as has been reported for many of the fruit species in the blog (e.g.,
see separate entries for Blackberry, Sloe, Crab apple, Dog rose), raspberry
pips are frequently found at Neolithic pile dwelling (‘Pfahlbauten’) settlements[ii]
(Colledge and Conolly 2014: table 4; Jacomet 2006: table 3). For example, at
the lakeside sites of Arbon Bleiche 3 (Switzerland,
Jacomet et al. 2004), Torweisen II (Germany,
Herbig 2006), Ödenahlen (Germany, Maier 1995), Egolzwil
3 (Switzerland, Bollinger 1994), Horgen-Scheller (Switzerland, Favre 2002),
Sutz-Lattrigen (Lattrigen Hauptstation VII; Germany, Brombacher 1997), and
Seekirch-Stockwiesen (Germany, Maier 2004) thousands of waterlogged pips
were identified, and only at the first named three sites were there any charred
pips (all in very low numbers by comparison).
Waterlogged raspberry pips were found in domestic contexts (e.g.,
floors, rubbish pits) in and around the houses at a La Tène (2nd-3rd
century BC) trading centre in the Ramsau Valley (Dürrnberg, Austria), in an
area that was prone to periodic flooding (Swidrak 1999). Medieval cess pits,
sewers, latrines or garderobes—complete with their faecal contents, and middens
or rubbish dumps commonly include uncharred raspberry pips (Greig 1996: 214). For
example, large numbers of waterlogged pips (with only a few charred) were preserved
in a pit at the site of Develier-Courtételle in northwest Switzerland, (dated to the 5th-7th
century AD; Brombacher
and Hecker 2015), and at the castle of Marmorera[iii]
(c.14th century AD) in southeast Switzerland c.13,000 desiccated
pips were found in a crevice to the west of the chapel where household rubbish
was routinely discarded (Akeret and Kühn 2008; see also: Greig 1981; Mazzanti
et al. 2005; McCobb et al. 2001 ).
There are also very early documentary and pictorial records
for the use of Rubus idaeus (Hummer
2010; Hummer and Janick 2007). In his De Materia
Medica[iv]
(written in about 65 AD), the Greek physician Dioscorides states that the
medicinal uses of raspberry are the same as those of blackberry but in addition
that: “its flower helps far more for eye inflammations when triturated with oil and smeared over
them; it also cools erysipelas and it is given in a drink with water to those with stomach problems” (Hummer 2010: 1588). In a 14th century manuscript
the Meddygion Myddvai, which was compiled by the Physicians of Myddvai[v],
raspberry leaves are listed as a treatment for ague, eye problems, fevers,
mouth sores and wounds (Wagner et al. 2017). In addition, raspberries were used
as a flavouring for beer during the Medieval period; in her book Food
and Drink in Medieval Poland
Debińska describes the various alcoholic beverages that
were consumed: “The annual cellar
inventories of the Teutonic Knights surpass those of the Polish kings in fine
luxury beers from Gdansk, Elblag and other Baltic towns, as well as many
barrels of mead, wine, wine must, and sour cherry wine. They also had supplies
of raspberry and plum juice, which were added to beer and mead to improve their
flavour” (Debińska 1999: 77-78; see also Behre 1999).
Bibliography
Akaret, Ö, and Kühn, M. 2008. Desiccated plant macrofossils
from the medieval castle of Marmorera, Switzerland, with a note on the
identification of leaves of Cyperaceae. Environmental
Archaeology 13(1): 37-50.
Ali, L., Svensson,
B., Alsanius, B.W. and Olsson, M.E. 2011. Late season harvest of Rubus berries – major antioxidant and
sugar levels. Scientia Horticulturae
129: 376-381.
Behre, K.-E. 1999.
The history of beer additives in Europe – a review. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 8: 35-48.
Bollinger, T. 1994.
Samenanalytische Untersuchung der früh-jungsteinzeitlichen Seeufersiedlung
Egozwil 3. Dissertationes Botanicæ 221. J Cramer, Berlin.
Brombacher, C. 1997.
Archaeobotanical investigations of Late Neolithic lakeshore settlements (Lake
Biel, Switzerland). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 6: 167-186.
Brombacher, C. and
Hecker, D. 2015. Agriculture, food and environment during Merovingian times:
plant remains from three early medieval sites in northwestern Switzerland. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 24:
331-342.
Debińska, M. 1999. Food and Drink in Medieval Poland. Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past.
[Translated by Magdalena Thomas. Revised and adapted by William Woys
Weaver] University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Dei Cas, L., Pugni,
F. and Fico, G. 2015. Tradition of use on medicinal species in Valfurva
(Sondrio, Italy). Journal of Ethnopharmacology
163: 113-134.
Favre, P. 2002. Archaobotanik. In:
Achour-Uster, C., Eberli, U., Ebersbach, R. and Favre, P. (Eds.), Die Seeufersiedlungen in Horgen. Die
neolithischen und bronzezeitlichen Fundstellen Dampfschiffsteg und Scheller.
Fotorotar, Zurich, pp 150–181
Fortini, P., Di
Marzio, P., Guarrera, P.M. and Iorizzi, M. 2016. Ethnobotanical study on the
medicinal plants in the Mainarde Mountains (central-southern Apennine, Italy). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 184:208-218.
Greig, J. 1981. The investigation of a Medieval
barrel-latrine from Worcester. Journal of
Archaeological Science 8: 265-282.
Greig, J. 1996.
Archaeobotanical and historical records compared – a new look at the taphonomy
of edible and other useful plants from the 11th to the 18th
centuries A.D. Circaea 12(2):
211-247.
Herbig, C. 2006. Archaeobotanical
investigations in a settlement of the Horgener culture (3300 BC) 'Torwiesen II'
at Lake Federsee, southern Germany. Environmental
Archaeology 11(1): 131-142.
Hummer, K.E. 2010. Rubus
pharmacology: antiquity to present. HortScience
45(11): 1587-1591.
Hummer, K.E. and Janick, J. 2007. Rubus iconography: antiquity to the renaissance. Acta Horticulturae 759: 89-106.
Jacomet, S. 2006. Plant economy of the northern
Alpine lake dwellings – 3500-2400 cal. BC. Environmental
Archaeology 11(1): 65-85.
Jacomet, S. 2013.
Archaeobotany: analyses of plant remains from waterlogged sites. In, Menotti,
F. and O’Sullivan, A. (Eds.), Wetland
Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford. pp. 497-514.
Jacomet, S., Leuzinger, U. and Schibler, J. 2004. Die jungsteinzeitliche Seefersiedlung Arbon Bleiche 3: Umwelt und Wirtschaft. Archäologie im Thurgau
Band 12. Kanton Thurgau: Department für Erziehung und Kultur des Kantons
Thurgau.
Janosa, M. 1993. Marmels/Marmorera - Eine Grottenburg im Oberhalbstein. Nachrichten
des Schweizerischen Burgenvereins 6 http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-164231
Jarić, S., Kostić, O., Mataruga, Z., Pavlović, D., Pavlović, M., Mitrović, M. and Pavlović,
P. 2018. Traditional
wound-healing plants used in the Balkan region (Southeast Europe). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 211:
311-328.
Kroll, H. 1998. Literature on archaeological remains of cultivated
plants (1996/1997). Vegetation History
and Archaeobotany 7: 23-56.
Kubiak-Martens, L. 1999. The plant food component of
the diet at the late Mesolithic (Ertebølle) settlement at Tybrind Vig, Denmark.
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
8: 117-127.
Kuhnlein, H.V. and Turner, N.J. 1991. Traditional plant foods of
Canadian indigenous peoples: Nutrition, botany and use. Gordon and Breach Science,
Philadelphia; Reading
Leighton, A.L.L. 1982. Ethnobotany
of the Nīhithawāk, Saskatchewan Woods Cree of the “Th”(d) dialect. MSc Thesis, Department
of Biology, University of Saskatchewan. https://teachingcommons.lakeheadu.ca/sites/default/files/inline-files/Leighton%201982%20ethnobotany%20of%20cree%20saskatchewan.pdf
Łuczaj, Ł.,
Köhler, P., Pirożnikow,
E., Graniszewska, M., Pieroni, A. and Gervasi, T. 2013. Wild edible plants of
Belarus: from Rostafiński’s questionnaire of 1883 to the present. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
9:2 http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/9/1/21
Maier, U. (1995). Moorstratigraphische
und paläoethnobotanische Untersuchungen in der jungsteinzeitlichen Moorsiedlung
Ödenahlen am Federsee. Siedlungsarchäologie im Alpenvorland. 3. Forschungen
und Berichte zur Vor- und Fruhgeschichte in Baden-Wurttemberg 46: 143-253.
Maier, U. 2004. Archaöbotanische
Untersuchungen in jung- und endneolithischen Moorseidlungen am Federsee. In, Köninger,
J. and Schlichterle, H. (eds.), Ökonomischer und ökologischer Wandel am
vorgeschichtlichen Federsee. Archäologische und naturwissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen. Hemmnenhofener Skripte 5. Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg
Archäologische Denkmalpflege. pp. 71-146.
Mazzanti,
M.B., Bosi, G., Mercuri, A.M., Accorsi, C.A. and Guarnieri, C. 2005. Plant use
in a city in Northern Italy during the late Mediaeval and Renaissance periods:
results of the archaeobotanical investigation of “The Mirror Pit” (14th-15th
century A.D.) in Ferrara. Vegetation
History and Archaeobotany 14: 442-452.
McCobb, L.M.E., Briggs,
D.E.G., Evershed, R.P., Hall, A.R. and Hall, R.A. 2001. Preservation of fossil
seeds from a 10th century AD cess pit at Coppergate, York. Journal
of Archaeological Science 28: 929-940.
Mikulic-Petkovsek,
M., Schmitzer, V., Slatnar, A., Stampar, F. and Veberic, R. 2012. Composition
of sugars, organic acids and total phenolics in 25 wild or cultivated berry
species. Journal of Food Science
77(10): C1064-C1070.
Monkton, S.G. 1992. Huron Paleoethnobotany. Ontario
Archaeological Reports No. 1. Ontario Heritage Foundation, Toronto.
Online Atlas of the
British and Irish Flora. Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/ [accessed 04.06.18]
Plants For A Future (PFAF). http://www.pfaf.org/ [accessed: 04.06.18]
Regnell, M. 2012. Plant
subsistence and environment at the Mesolithic site Tågerup, southern Sweden: new insights on
the “Nut Age”. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
21: 1-16.
Scottish Government statistics: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Agriculture-Fisheries/agritopics/Horticulture
[accessed: 04.06.18]
Sõukand, R. and
Kalle, R. 2013. Where does the
border lie: locally grown plants used for making tea for recreation and/or
healing, 1970s-199s Estonia. Journal of Ethnopharmacology
150: 162-174.
Sõukand, R., Pieroni, A., Biró, M., Dénes, A., Dogan, Y., Hajdari, A,
Kalle, R., Reade, B., Mustafa, B., Nedelcheva, A., et al. 2015. An ethnobotanical perspective on
traditional fermented plant foods and beverages in Eastern Europe. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 170: 284-296.
Sõukand, R. and
Pieroni, A. 2016. The importance of a border: Medical, veterinary, and wild
food ethnobotany of the Hutsuls living on the Romanian and Ukrainian sides of
Bukovina. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 185:
17-40.
Sõukand, R.,
Hrynevich, Y., Vasilyeva, I., Prakofjewa, J., Vnukovich, Y., Paciupa, J.,
Hlushko, A., Knureva, Y., Litvinava, Y., Vyskvarka, S., et al. 2017.
Multi-functionality of the few: current and past uses of wild plants for food
and healing in the Liubań region, Belarus. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 13:10 DOI
10.1186/s13002-017-0139-x
Spencer, W.A., Jeyabalan, J., Kichambre, S. and Gupta, R.C. 2011.
Oxidatively generated DNA damage following Cu(II)-catalysis of dopamine and
related catecholamine neurotransmitters and neurotoxins; role of reactive
oxygen species. Free Radical Biology
& Medicine 50(1): 139-147.
Stanton, M. 2013. Crop production. In, Funt, R.C. and Hall,
H.K. (Eds.), Raspberries. Crop
Production Science in Horticulture Series. CAB International, Oxford and
Boston. pp. 157-176.
Styramets, N.,
Elbakidze, M., Ceuterick, M., Angelstam, P. and Axelsson, R. 2015. From
economic survival to recreation: contemporary uses of wild food and medicine in
rural Sweden, Ukraine and NW Russia. Journal
of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 11:53
DOI 10.1186/s13002-015-0036-0
Swidrak, I.
1999. A Celtic, La Tène trade centre in Ramsautal in the Dürrnberg, Austria:
macrofossil data towards reconstruction of environment and food plants. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 8:
113-116.
Thanos,
C.A. n.d. Mt Ida in mythology and classical antiquity – a plant scientist’s approach.
http://users.uoa.gr/~cthanos/Papers/MtIda.pdf [accessed:
13.06.18]
Turner,
N.J., Bouchard, R. and Kennedy, D.I.D. 1980. Ethnobotany of the Okanagan-Colville Indians of British Columbia and
Washington. British Columbia Provincial Museum No. 21 Occasional Paper
Series. British Columbia Provincial Museum, Victoria.
Wagner, C.S.,
De Gezelle, J., Robertson, M., Robertson, K., Wilson, M. and Komarnytsky, S.
2017. Antibacterial activity of medicinal plants from The Physicians Myddvai, a
14th century Welsh medical manuscript. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 203: 171-181.
[i] From where raspberry’s
species name ‘idaeus’ originated (Thanos
n.d.: 9).
[ii] For a description of the
depositional processes at pile-dwelling settlements, see separate entry for
Blackberry.
[iii] The castle was built under
a massive rock shelter and this was the reason why so much of the organic
materials was preserved (for more details see Janosa 1993).
[iv] For details see: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/materiamedica.html [accessed: 31.05.18]
[v] For more details see: http://www.breconbeacons.org/lady-lake-physicians-myddfai and https://botanicgarden.wales/2016/07/physicians-myddfai-revisited/ [accessed: 21.06.18]
No comments:
Post a Comment