Valley Bounty: Raspberries

We can all remember “blowing raspberries” from our childhoods I’m sure, or perhaps for some of us more recently than that. It’s the faux-flatulent noise made by sticking your tongue between your lips and blowing air. The noise, which apparently is widely recreated in this way in cultures around the globe (although it does not seem to be a phonetic component of any known language), is called “blowing a raspberries” by way of Cockney rhyming slang, which uses a familiar compound expression (in this case, “raspberry tart”) as a stand in for a shorter rhyming expression (if you couldn’t guess, “fart”), then drops the rhyming portion—hence, “raspberry”. Though the gesture is usually meant as defiant mockery or otherwise negative input, I can’t imagine anyone feeling that way about actual fresh local raspberries, which are just now coming into season and will shortly be available at farmers’ markets, farm stands, grocery stores, and pick-your-own.

I’d be omitting some key facts if I didn’t admit that a pint of fresh local raspberries never lasts long enough in my kitchen to find its way into a recipe. The most elaborate cause they can usually hope for is to be a topping for a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or maybe sprinkled on a salad with goat cheese and walnuts.

Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)