Tayberry: Freshen Up Your Berry Talk

It is berry season! I am in favor of all berries so when I discovered that there was a juicy one bite fruit I had never even heard of I was instantly intrigued. Introducing the tayberry—a new gem to add to your berry repertoire.

I know you have always wondered what happens when you cross a blackberry and a raspberry. Tayberries do just that! The Scottish fruit marries our beloved blackberry with our cherished raspberry for a match made in fruity heaven! The berry hybrid has the tartness of a raspberry with the juiciness of a blackberry making them an oh-so-flavorful treat. The large berry is reminiscent of a blackberry in its seedy level with the color and shape of a raspberry—leaving you with that pleasantly puckered sour face. Yum.

Um, hello, my Chobani yogurt is SCREAMING for this as a topping.

If you didn’t have a reason to head to your local farmers’ market you do now. The Willy Wonka sounding fruit unfortunately has a very short cropping season (the end of June through early August) and normally can’t be found in commercial grocery stores. But when you get your hands on the sangria-hued bramble fruit you will squeal with delight. In fact, you might not be able to stop yourself from eating them all between the market and the kitchen so double up on your purchase if you can because these fragile berries are scarce and short-lived. (Unless you jam them or freeze them…but that is a secret I wouldn’t tell many people or you might have unwanted competition on your tayberry hoarding skills.)

The novel berry gets high marks on the nutritional front. Like many other berries, the tayberry is low in calories and full of fiber. Plus, tayberries contain lots of vitamin C, vitamin B and antioxidants galore.

There is no question that tayberries are wonderful to nosh on just the way they are, but if you feel like dressing up your two-for-one berry here are some recipes:

• It’s summer. Let’s eat tayberry sherbet. Pinkberry I don’t know why you haven’t thought of this as a summer flavor. #fail
• Jams are a great way to preserve the flavor of this fleeting summer fruit. I’d welcome a PB&J with tayberry raspberry lemon jam fo’ sho.
• Tayberries would be an exciting addition to your morning cereal or oatmeal.
• Whenever I go to a bakery I go ga-ga over the fruit filled tarts in the glass case. Tayberry tart coming right up!
• You can get saucy with me…if it is tayberry sauce. Keep it sweet by serving over ice cream or bring in the savory with a helping over your patio grilled chicken.

Why be picky over your berries when you can have the best of both worlds? Succumb to your curiosity and give this lesser known berry a try. You will be glad you did.

Have you ever tried tayberries? What is your favorite berry? Do tell! 

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