Royalty-free images by Mike1 — No. 152 of over 1200 images
Autumn Teton Thimbleberry, Along Cascade Canyon Trail;
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, September 19, 2007
Rubus parviflorus2
Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry, (also known as redcaps) is a species of Rubus native to northern temperate regions of North America. It bears edible red fruit similar in appearance to a raspberry, but shorter, almost hemispherical. Because the fruit does not hold together well, it has not been commercially developed for the retail berry market, but is cultivated for landscapes. The plant has large hairy leaves and no thorns.
Rubus parviflorus is native to western North America from Alaska south as far as California, New Mexico, Chihuahua, and San Luis Potosí. Its range extends east to the Rocky Mountains and discontinuously to the Great Lakes Region. It grows from sea level in the north, up to elevations of 10,000 ft. (3,000 m) in the south.
Thimbleberry fruits are flatter and softer (more fragile) than raspberries, but similarly have many small seeds. Because the fruit is so soft, it does not pack or ship well, so thimbleberries are rarely cultivated commercially.
However, wild thimbleberries can be eaten raw or dried (the water content of ripe thimbleberries is quite variable), and can be made into a jam which is sold as a local delicacy in some parts of their range, notably in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. Thimbleberry jam is commonly made by combining equal volumes of berries and sugar and boiling the mixture for two minutes before packing it into jars. Without sugar, the cooked berries, with a distinguishing sweet-sour taste, keep for a few days in the refrigerator.
Post Endnotes
- I am sharing some of my public domain images in periodic blog posts.
- “Rubus Parviflorus.” Wikipedia, most recent revision July 27, 2021. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://en.wikipedia….Rubus_parviflorus.
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