All guides
How to pick raspberries
3 min read
The most fragile thing you will pick, and the easiest to tell when it is ready.
133
farms
18
regions
June to October
picked
When you can pick raspberries
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Across every region on Pickeria. Darker months are peak somewhere; your own region is narrower, and the table below gives it.
What to look for
- 1
A ripe raspberry slides off its core and leaves the white plug behind on the plant. If the core comes with it, it was not ready
- 2
It should need almost no force at all. Any tugging means wait
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Use two fingers and a thumb, and put it straight in the container rather than collecting a handful, which crushes the ones underneath
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Keep the container shallow. Raspberries stacked deep turn to jam under their own weight
- 5
Fall-bearing varieties fruit again in September in much of the country, so a summer visit is often not the only one
What people get wrong
Every one of these is common enough to be worth naming.
- Tugging. If the berry does not slide off its core with no force at all, it is not ready and squashing it will not change that
- Collecting a handful before putting them down, which crushes the bottom of the handful every time
- Picking into anything deeper than about three inches
- Assuming a farm with a finished July crop is done for the year, when the fall canes are six weeks away
Varieties worth knowing
Farms post the variety at the gate. This is what the names mean.
Summer-bearing red
One heavy crop in early summer on last year's canes. The classic, and usually the better flavour.
Fall-bearing red
Late August to frost, on this year's growth. Often a bigger berry and a longer picking window.
Black raspberries
Not a blackberry. Smaller, seedier, intensely flavoured, a two-week season in July and worth rearranging a weekend for.
Golden and yellow
A colour mutation of the red, sweeter and softer, and almost never sold in shops because they will not survive the journey.
Once you are home
Most people pick more than they planned to.
- Freeze on a tray the same day, then bag. They will not survive being left until tomorrow
- Raspberry vinegar and raspberry gin both take about ten minutes of work and make a small pick go a long way
- A no-cook freezer jam keeps the flavour that boiling destroys
- Push the squashed ones through a sieve for a seedless coulis and freeze it in an ice cube tray
Where you can pick raspberries
133 farms across 18 regions, earliest season first. Every date came from the farm's own words.
Published prices
$4.00 to $10.00 per pound
Hoffman Farms Store, Boones Ferry Berry Farms, Montavon's Berries and 12 more
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June to September
New York, NY12 farms
Greig Farm, Von Thun's Country Farm Market, Ochs Orchard and 9 more
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June to October
Philadelphia, PA10 farms
Weaver's Orchard, Kauffman Orchards, Frecon Farms and 7 more
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June to September
Detroit, MI10 farms
Blake's Orchard & Cider Mill, Spicer Orchards, Westview Orchards & Winery and 7 more
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June to October
Seattle, WA8 farms
Colello's Farm Stand & Produce, Terra Valley Farms, Biringer Farms and 5 more
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June to August
Boston, MA8 farms
Cider Hill Farm, Douglas Orchard & Farm, Nourse Farm and 5 more
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June to October
Washington, DC8 farms
Great Country Farms, Larriland Farm, Catoctin Mountain Orchard and 5 more
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June to September
Live Earth Farm, Tru2earth Farm, Boring Farm and 3 more
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June to October
Cleveland, OH5 farms
Quarry Hill Orchards, Ransom Sage Farm, Rainbow Farms and 2 more
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June to October
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June to September
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June to July
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June to October
Minneapolis, MN11 farms
Afton Apple Orchard, Fairhaven Farm, White Pine Berry Farm and 8 more
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July to September
Grand Rapids, MI11 farms
Grange Fruit Farm, Krupp Farms, North Ridge Berries and 8 more
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July to September
Chicago, IL9 farms
Royal Oak Farm Orchard, Stade's Farm & Market, SunBerry Orchard and 6 more
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July to October
Rochester, NY5 farms
Hurd Orchards, Chase Farms Market, Burnap's Farm Market & Garden Cafe and 2 more
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July to September
Hartford, CT5 farms
Lyman Orchards, Bishop's Orchards Farm Market & Winery, Rose's Berry Farm and 2 more
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July to September
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July to October
Farms that publish a price
Taken from the farm's own website, never from a directory. Most publish nothing at all, so these are worth knowing.
