Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were to cross a blackberry and a raspberry? The answer, which we have thanks to a couple of Scottish botanists, is the tayberry a large reddish purple berry.
First cultivated in Invergowrie, Scotland by Scottish Crops Research Institute botanists David Mason and David Jennings, the tayberry is a blackberry-raspberry cross, which bears fruit in mid to late summer and tastes wonderful eaten out of hand or cooked.
The Tayberry looks at first glance like a blackberry, but all it takes is one taste to know this is no ordinary blackberry. The tayberry has a tart bite thanks to its raspberry heritage, which sets it apart. This is a surprising but deliciously welcome newcomer to the fruits in your local market.
Tayberries are perfect for a summer picnic basket or a late summer pie. If you are planning a picnic to your local park, tayberry jam and peanut butter sandwiches may be exactly what you have the taste for it makes a wonderful jam. Before heading to your picnic, you may want to prepare a tayberry pie the night before.
Tayberries are great in a bowl of ice cream or yogurt and are equally good in a fruit salad or mixed into jell-o. You can use tayberries just as you would use blackberries or raspberries. Even eaten as they are, they are a treat. Try them in cereal, scattered on top of a cheesecake or freeze them and add them to smoothies! No matter how you use tayberries, you are certain to enjoy them.
Tayberries are also used to make a wine. The wine features a brilliant ruby red color and a taste with just the right amounts of sweetness and tartness. It makes a great pairing with strong cheeses, red meat, and game. The wine makes a great gift and at only about $15 a bottle, a very affordable one as well.
Besides it’s one of a kind flavor, the tayberry also contains a lot of nutritional value. Tayberries are a good source of vitamin C, bioflavonoids, folate, and fiber. The tayberry fruit and leaves are also employed as a home remedy for diarrhea.
Tayberry leaves, like raspberry and blackberry leaves can be chewed as an effective home remedy for bleeding gums and a number of other ailments; in fact, the Scots have been using these leaves for 2,000 years!
Tayberry is a versatile fruit indeed, with applications from food to wine to home remedies. This is a new and different fruit, which you can use in many dishes. Tart, sweet, and absolutely delicious, the tayberry’s uses are limited only by your imagination.
Tags: home, dessert recipes, Recipies, Recipies
