National Raspberry Cake Day is jubilantly feasted each year on July 31st. Therefore, today is the day to enjoy raspberry cake. Because it is a cool and refreshing dessert. And, is indeed a summertime favorite around the United States.
- Raspberries are the edible fruit of the plant that belongs to the genus Rubus of the rose family.
- An individual raspberry is made up of about 100 drupelets.
- One raspberry bush can yield several hundred berries a year.
- A single raspberry has a hollow core once it is removed from the receptacle.
- Raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C, manganese, and dietary fiber.
- Raspberries contain vitamin B1, vitamin B3, folic acid, magnesium, copper, and iron.
- The word “raspberry” seems to come from the Old French raspise, a term meaning “sweet rose-colored wine”.
- Raspberries are a type of fruit known as aggregate fruit. Aggregate fruits have flowers with multiple ovaries and each ovary produces druplets around a core formed by the flower. Each druplet could actually be considered a separate fruit.
- There are over 200 different species of raspberries but only 2 species are grown on a large scale.
- Raspberries come in red, purple, gold, or black — the golden ones are the sweetest.
- Raspberries and blackberries are crossed to create the loganberry — a cross between red raspberries, blackberries, and loganberries create boysenberries.
- The term “raspberry” for a flapping noise made with the tongue and mouth seems to have originated in the Cockney dialect of England. The sound was originally called a raspberry tart and was later shortened to raspberry.
- The people of Troy, in modern-day Turkey, were the first to note an appreciation of the raspberry fruit.
- 4 A.D. saw the first writings on the cultivation of raspberries.
- 5th to 15th Century – Medieval Europe uses the raspberry for medicine and in paintings; only the rich can afford to eat them at this time.
- 18th Century – After many British gardens grow berry bushes and plants, the cultivation of this fruit spreads around Europe.
- 1771 – William Price sells the first batch of cultivated raspberry plants in New York.
- 2019 – The world produces 822,493 tonnes of raspberries — Russia contributes to 21% of this total, followed by Mexico and Serbia.
- Phytonutrients from raspberries can be an effective treatment for high blood pressure and inflammation of the joints. They’re also beneficial for the normal functioning of the liver.
- Raspberry ketone, a compound isolated from the raspberry has applications in the cosmetic industry for the production of shampoos, lotions, creams and perfumes.
- The saying “You can’t have your cake and eat it”(originally “eat your cake and have it”) is first seen in print in 1562 in John Heywood’s ‘Proverbs and Epigrams.’
- The proverb ‘a piece of cake’ was not coined until the 20th century.
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