Raspberries — season, tips, and recipes in New Zealand
Raspberries is a fruit available in New Zealand during December, January, February, March, April, peaking in January, February. This page is a practical guide for home cooks: when to buy raspberries, how to pick a good one, how to store it, what it goes well with, three original recipes, and detailed nutrition information.
Nelson is NZ's main raspberry region. Fresh NZ raspberries are a completely different experience from frozen imported ones.
How to pick a good one
Bright, uniformly coloured, no mould. Should be plump but not mushy. Check the bottom of the punnet for crushed ones.
How to store it
Extremely perishable. Fridge immediately, eat within 1-2 days. Freeze well in a single layer.
Goes well with
dark chocolate: Raspberry's acidity and chocolate's bitterness cancel each other's extremes, producing something that tastes neither aggressively sour nor aggressively bitter. The combination is more balanced than either alone.
cream: Fat carries raspberry's aroma compounds. A raspberry in cream tastes more intensely of raspberry than a raspberry on its own. The mild acidity of cream also contrasts with the berry's sharpness.
almond: Almonds and raspberries share benzaldehyde, the same aromatic compound found in cherry stones. The Bakewell tart exists because of this chemical relationship.
lemon: Lemon and raspberry are both acidic, but lemon's acid is clean and simple where raspberry's is complex. Adding lemon to raspberries makes them taste cleaner and more distinctly of themselves.
meringue: Meringue provides sweetness and crunch without flavour, which means it amplifies rather than competes with raspberry. The Eton mess works because the meringue's job is textural.
Recipes
Raspberry Fool
Cream, raspberries. That's it.
Ingredients: 200g raspberries, 250ml cream, 2 tbsp icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla
Method: Mash half the raspberries roughly. Whip cream with sugar and vanilla. Fold in mashed and whole raspberries, leaving streaks. Spoon into glasses.
Raspberry & White Chocolate Slice
No bake. Make ahead.
Ingredients: 200g plain biscuits, 100g butter (melted), 200g white chocolate, 200ml cream, 150g raspberries
Method: Crush biscuits. Mix with butter. Press into lined tin. Chill. Melt chocolate into warm cream. Pour over base. Scatter raspberries, pressing some in. Chill 3 hours.
Raspberry Vinaigrette
Dressing that makes salad exciting.
Ingredients: 100g raspberries, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp honey, pinch salt
Method: Blend raspberries. Strain out seeds. Whisk with oil, vinegar, honey, salt. Keeps in fridge for 5 days.
Nutrition
One cup provides 54% of your daily vitamin C, 41% of your manganese, and 8g of fibre (32% of daily needs). One of the highest-fibre fruits. Contains ellagic acid, an antioxidant being studied for anti-cancer properties. Only 64 calories per cup. Cup for cup, raspberries have more fibre than most whole grains.