Fall bearing raspberries

There are two types of raspberries: summer-bearing types and fall-bearing types. Fall-bearing raspberries bear fruit on their primocanes. Red and yellow cultivars are summer or fall bearers. Black and purple raspberries are all summer-bearers.

Fall-bearing raspberries can produce a fall and a summer crop. All canes needed to be cut to ground levels when plants are dormant, usually in the winter before growth begins.

This type of raspberries is vigorous plants. If left on their own, wintered-over canes will produce fruit in summer, but the fall crop will be reduced. Fall-bearing raspberries may be ultimate low-maintenance bramble for gardeners in the northern two-thirds of the United States.

Fall-bearing raspberries can be planted in fall and harvest the first crop the following fall. It yields a large crop in the fall and a smaller crop the following summer.
Fall bearing raspberries

Summer-bearing raspberries

Fresh raspberries are one of those seasonal delights people look forward to all year. There are two types of raspberries: summer bearing and fall bearing. Red and yellow cultivars are summer or fall bearers. Black and purple raspberries are all summer-bearers.

During the planting year, summer-bearing red raspberries grow upright and produce fruit buds in late summer and autumn. Generally, no pruning is necessary in the first year unless there are injured or dead canes caused by wind or poor management.

Summer-bearing raspberries bear fruit on second-year canes called floricanes. These floricanes will produce leaves and fruits in the late spring and early summer and are referred to as summer-bearing types.

All floricanes have to be removed and destroyed after harvest. These canes will die soon and will become havens for diseases and insect pest, and they also interfere with air circulation and continuing cultural practices.
Summer-bearing raspberries

Different types of grapefruits

The grapefruit, one of the largest members of the citrus family, measures up to 5 or 6 inches in diameter. The fruit is so named because John Luman recorded this name in 1814 in his Hortus Jamaicensis ‘on account of its resemblance in flavor to the grape.’

About 1809, a Spanish nobleman, ‘Don Philippe’ migrated to Florida and settled near Green Springs. He was said to have brought grapefruit seeds with him and from them, to have developed a small grove, the first grapefruit planting in the state.

It then became an important crop in the early 1900s, in the southern United States. The grapefruit is closely associated with the pummelo, probably originating in the West Indies a few centuries ago.

There are two types of grapefruit, white fleshed (pink) and pigmented (red), differentiated more by the color of their flesh than their skin.

Fresh grapefruit of both types can be found in the market year-round because the fruits ripen at different times in Texas, Florida, California, and Arizona.

The meat or pulp of the white grapefruit is actually pale yellow or bond in color. The rind will be from pale to rich yellow in hue. The flesh should have an assertive tangy tart flavor with some underlying bitterness.

Red grapefruit should be the sweetest grapefruits available and are in great demand when in season. It has risen to bright-pink flesh and pink-tinged yellow skin.
Different types of grapefruits

Grapes for winemaking

Vinification is the process of making wine, and it begins after the grapes are harvested and delivered to the winery.

The grape is the basis of the global wine industry although there are separate categories of wines made from fruits such as apples. Grape fruits hold the key to produce the taste of a wine, a grape contains the correct equilibrium of sugar, yeast nutrients, acid (malic, tartaric and ascorbic etc), water content, tannins.

Full body table wine styles, dessert wines and fortified wines generally require riper grapes with well-developed flavor, color, and tannins, as well as high levels of sugar.

More medium bodied styles of table wine are often picked earlier and retain more acidity at the expense of some sugar and flavor development.

Vitis vinifera are easily grown, the grapes contain a solution of water and sugar and the skin contain natural yeasts.

When the bins of grapes are brought to the winery they are sorted to remove leaves and unwanted grape clusters.

In most cases, the whole grapes berries are manually or mechanically crushed after sorting. This involve gently ‘popping’ or cracking open the grapes to release the juices that will eventually start the fermentation process.

Just after the fermentation has finished, the wine is moved to a settling tank where fining, filtration and other techniques of clarification may be applied.
Grapes for winemaking

What is raisin?

Raisins are produced through drying of Thompson seedless grapes. In the United States raisins are only produced in California. Raisins are defined as grapes that have been dried and have a sweet taste and a wrinkly texture.

Almost 90 percent of the raisins sold in the United States came from the area around Fresno, California.

Raisins were probably discovered when someone or something tasted grapes that had dried on the vine.

There are either 3 main types of raisins:
*Sun dried
*Dipped
*Golden
Raisins, like prunes, are often recommended to promote bowel regularity due to their high fiber content.

Raisins are and excellent source of the trace mineral boron. They are also a very good source of dietary fiber and a good source of vitamin B1 and B6. Raisins contain polyphenols, flavonoids and high level of iron that may benefit human health.

Raisins have been used as a valuable ingredient in bread and other bakery products.
What is raisin? 

Fruit of blackberries

Blackberries grow best in temperate climates.  The fruit of bramble belonging to the same family as the raspberry and the strawberry, blackberries gore in gardens, fields and woods, climbing over walls and any obstacles in the path.

The two types of blackberries: erect and trailing. The erect type has strong, upright canes are usually thorny and don’t require support.

Trailing blackberries also called dewberries, ground blackberries, or running blackberries have canes that are not self-supporting; the canes must be tied to poles or trellises in cultivation.

The blackberry is grown in North America, Europe, the British Isles and Australia. They are usually thorny shrubs that produce clusters of delicate whitish or pinkish flowers. More than a thousand varieties of blackberries have been identified, most of which grow wild.

Blackberries are harvest after ripening, but before they have become soft and mushy.

Firm, ripe blackberries bring the highest market price. Berries that are picked at the proper tie, handled carefully and stored in a cool place will stay in good condition for several days.

Berries that are overripe or injured spoil quickly.
Fruit of blackberries