Parts Most Frequently Used: Raspberry Fruit, Leaf

Flavors/Temps: Sweet, Astringent, Slightly Warm

Caution: Considered safe. Traditional lore suggests that pregnant women can use raspberry leaf tea to aid delivery.

History/Folklore: The tannins in raspberry leaves give it its astringing properties that help sooth internal and external conditions from sunburns to gum disease.

In Ancient Greece, raspberries were linked to fertility and were said to be discovered by the Olympian gods. During the European Middle Ages raspberries were a favorite women’s tonic, used to sooth complaints around fertility. The wealthy used it as a food and pigment.  In early Christian artwork, raspberry juice was used in paintings and the fine art of illuminations as a symbol of kindness, with the red juice being a symbol of blood. In Germany, raspberries were used to bewitch horses by tying a bit of the cane to the horse’s body. In England, King Edward the 1st (1272-1307) was said to be the first to suggest mass cultivation of the plants.

Native American Cherokee, Iroquois, and Mohawk tribes used the leaves to treat female disorders.

The Journal of Midwifery and Woman’s Health found in 2001 that women who drank raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy experienced shorter and easier labor and delivery.

Research is showing signs of the plant being able to protect the liver, whiten skin and play a possible minor role in fighting stomach and colon cancers.

The ellagic acid found in the plant’s berries are known to be chemo-preventative with anti-inflammatory properties.

The berries are popular for their nutritional and antioxidant properties. They can be eaten raw, in jams and jellies, or juiced.

Loganberries are a hybrid of raspberries, boysenberries are too.

Raspberry leaves must be completely dry before using or they can upset your stomach.

The flowers are a major nectar source for honeybees and other pollinators. The plants can be invasive. The plants should not be planted where potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants or bulbs have previously been grown before as these crops can be hosts for a fungus that stays in the soil for many years and can infest raspberry crops.

In China, the Chinese Raspberry Fruit (Fu Pen Zi/Fructus Rubi chingii) is used. The green fruit is plucked in early summer, then dipped in boiling water and sun-dried.  The best quality is whole, green-yellow and sour.  Recommended dosage is from 5-10grams in decoction, pills or powder.

Studies in China indicate that Chinese raspberries may have estrogen-like effects.