Raspberry
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Red raspberry leaf is used for gastrointestinal (GI) tract disorders, including diarrhea; for respiratory system disorders, including flu and swine flu; and for heart problems, fever, diabetes, and vitamin deficiency. It is also used to promote sweating, urination, and bile production. Some people use it for general “purification of skin and blood.”
Some women use raspberry leaf for painful periods, heavy periods, morning sickness associated with pregnancy, preventing miscarriage, and easing labor and delivery.
Red raspberry leaf is applied directly to the skin for sore throat and skin rash.
Astringent and stimulant. Raspberry Leaf Tea, made by the infusion of 1 OZ. of the dried leaves in a pint of boiling water, is employed as a gargle for sore mouths, canker of the throat, and as a wash for wounds and ulcers. The leaves, combined with the powdered bark of Slippery Elm, make a good poultice for cleansing wounds, burns and scalds, removing proud flesh and promoting healing.
An infusion of Raspberry leaves, taken cold, is a reliable remedy for extreme laxity of the bowels. The infusion alone, or as a component part of injections, never fails to give immediate relief. It is useful in stomach complaints of children.
Raspberry Leaf Tea is valuable during parturition. It should be taken freely – warm.
Warnings
Hormone-sensitive conditions such as breast cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, or uterine fibroids: Red raspberry might act like estrogen. If you have any condition that might be made worse by exposure to estrogen, don’t use red raspberry.
Preparation and Dosage
Fluid extract, 1 to 2 drachms. The Raspberry grows wild as far north as lat. 70 degrees, and southward it appears to have been abundant on Mount Ida, in Asia Minor, lat. 39 degrees 40′. It was known to the Ancients, and Linnaeus retained the classic name of Ida, with which it was associated by Dioscorides. It was called in Greek Batos Idaia, and in Latin Rubus Idaea, the Bramble of Mount Ida. Gerard calls it Raspis or Hindberry, and Hindberry is a derivation of the Saxon name Hindbeer.
“Twas only to hear the yorling sing,
And pu’ the crawflower round the spring,
The scarlet hep and the hindberrie,
And the nut that hang frae the hazel tree.’
The Wild Raspberry differs from the cultivated variety mainly in its size.
RECIPES
Raspberry Wine
To every 3 pints of fruit, carefully cleared from moldy or bad, put 1 quart of water; bruise the former. In 24 hours strain the liquor and put to every quart 1 lb. of sugar, of good middling quality, of Lisbon. If for white currants, use lump sugar. It is best to put the fruit, etc., into a large pan, and when, in three or four days, the scum rises, take that off before the liquor be put into the barrel. Those who make from their own gardens may not have a sufficiency to fill the barrel at once; the wine will not hurt if made in the pan in the above proportions, and added as the fruit ripens, and can be gathered in dry weather.
Keep an account of what is put in each time.
Raspberry Vinegar
Raspberry Vinegar is made either with malt vinegar or white vinegar (i.e. either white-wine vinegar or dilute acetic acid). Malt vinegar adds to the color, which with white vinegar generally needs the addition of a little caramel to deepen it. When made from the fruit 2 lb. of raspberries is required to a pint of vinegar. Another method is to acidulate Raspberry-juice with acetic acid and sweeten with plain syrup.
Another Recipe for the Same
Put 1 lb. of fine fruit into a china-bowl, and pour upon it 1 quart of the best white-wine vinegar; next day strain the liquor on 1 lb. of fresh raspberries; and the following day do the same, but do not squeeze the fruit, only drain the liquor as dry as you can from it. The last time pass it through a canvas, preciously wet with vinegar, to prevent waste. Put it into a stone jar, with 1 lb. of sugar to every pint of juice, broken into large lumps; stir it when melted, then put the jar into a saucepan of water or on a hot hearth, let it simmer and skim it. When cold, bottle it.
This is one of the most useful preparations that can be kept in a house, not only as affording the most refreshing beverage, but being of singular efficacy in complaints of the chest. A large spoonful or two in a tumbler of water. Be careful to use no glazed nor metal vessels for it.
—–(Old Cookery-Book.)
Raspberry Brandy
Pick fine dry fruit, put it into a stone jar, and the jar into a kettle of water, or on a hot hearth, till the juice will run; strain, and to every pint add 1/2 lb. of sugar, give one boil and skim it; when cold, put equal quantities of juice and brandy, shake well and bottle. Some people prefer it stronger of the brandy.
—–(Old Cookery-Book.)
SOURCES