Raspberry Health Benefits: A Delicious Power Food

Raspberries are a delicious power food prized for their vitamins, fiber, and many health benefits.

Why Raspberries Are Healthy

Traditional healers used not only berries, but all plant parts: bark, stems, flowers, leaves, and roots.

Modern research reveals tempting facts:

• One cup supplies >40% of daily vitamin C and manganese, and one-third of daily fiber—more fiber than any other fresh fruit.

• Raspberries and other berries contain dozens of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytocompounds that may protect against several cancers, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

• Eating berries, including raspberries, helps protect against neurodegenerative diseases of aging.

• Raspberry leaves and extracts contain astringent tannins, plus antiviral and antibacterial compounds. Tea from dried young leaves makes a mild, tasty addition to homemade blends.

How to Grow Raspberries

For growing, harvesting, and variety recommendations, visit our Raspberries page.

If not picking from your own patch or a pick-your-own farm, buy raspberries as soon as possible after harvest. Refrigerate and use quickly; these healthy fruits are highly perishable.

Enjoy raspberries in jams and sorbets, but savor them plain and fresh for the best treat of all!

~ By Margaret Boyles

About This Blog

Margaret Boyles lives in a wood-heated house in central New Hampshire. She grows vegetables, keeps chickens, swims in a backyard pond in summer, snowshoes in the surrounding woods in winter, and commutes by bike whenever possible.