Honestly, I'd be a little reluctant to eat them straight from the woods.

My solution would be to see if you can find any suckers they've thrown, and plant them in your own yard; that way you'll know exactly what's been done in terms of fertilizer, chemical bug removal, animal contamination, etc. I'm sure the ones in the woods are probably fine and untampered with, but I'm just a little paranoid that way.

If you find any golden raspberry plants, certainly take those suckers out if you can - they're the best kind of raspberry IMHO! :D

we have a cabin near Park Rapids/ Walker on about 2 1/2 acres...almost all wooded and we too have what I always called wild rasberries....I have eaten some of them now and them..they haven't killed me yet.....I really think they are safe too eat.....but I would get someone to feed those little chipmonks just incase....I agree with Cailleach...the Golden Raseberries are the very best kind...I have some plants here at home and they are so sweet and I always go outside and eat them all myself ..before the birds get them all .....they can have the red ones....Michele >^,,^

I'm not saying whether or not to eat 'em (though I can't think of any raspberry look-alikes that are poisonous). Whose property are they on and how much are you around? I second the considering of what chemicals may have been around them.

Here's some pics that may help you out:

Raspberries
Raspberry plants

Follow up: There is no danger of pesticides etc. The berries seem smaller than I remember them being when I was a kid. And is it possible to have red and black on the same bush?
I really appreciate the help gang. Thank you.Again.

Could they actually be blackberries and the red ones are still ripening?

We have them all over the place, I eat them all the time. The red ones are just not fully ripe. I made jam out of them one year and it was wonderful!

Linda

I agree with Linda. Wild raspberries are great to eat, and they make the best jam. We have them growing on our property and I never hesitate to enjoy them!

Chris

Yep- Them are black-caps! I hope you can get your fare share before the bear eat em all!
They are my favorite raspberry- usually mellower- not as tart- as the red. But better than that- you don't have to plant them and give up garden space- you don't have to water and feed them or fuss over them if they get diseased- you don't have to stake them- you don't have to clean out the old canes each spring- you don't have to do a thing except pick em- wash em and eat em!
I am so thankfull for the bountiful gifts from Ol' Mom Nature I have found around my house- Black-caps, black elderberries in such profusion there are more than enough for me and the birds- currents, delicious crabapples so big they look like small apples, plums, asparagus and more! These are all growing in land owned by the railroad along the tracks- I have enjoyed them for years now- and have shared their location with the few neighbors who have asked- and there is always enough to go around!
I am glad you spotted your black-caps! I suggest you enjoy them! And, be sure to keep your eyes open for the other gifts Ol' Mom has given for you to enjoy-
Julie

O.K. the next garden tour needs to take place in the woods so we can get some of you guys out of the cities- lol!
Linda, Chris, and Julie can bring samples.

Nettiesgarden, I would gladly give you a jar of my most prized jam for a tour of your beautiful gardens!

Chris

Thanks Chris- I really shouldn't chuckle because it is better to be safe than sorry. When I moved down to the prairie here and we had all this buckthorn on our property I thought it was the beloved chokecherries that we had always made jelly from on the farm back home. I popped one in my mouth and had to spit for 10 minutes to get it off my tongue- now I read that they can cause severe gastric upset.
Berry picking in the woods from blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, highbush cranberries, chokecherries etc. is a fond memory of my childhood...I'll never forget the glass quart jar full of water that we all drank from and my brother and sisters all yelling at me for picking and eating more than I put in my pail.

Okay staff-I think I have the raspberrite thing figured out. We have a bazillion of them stretching out into the woods behind our garden patch. If I understand what I read here and elsewhere, I should mark them now and then prune and thin them when the weather is cold-like November- 'cause ain't nobody goin' out in that briar patch in the kind of weather we've been having.
Thanks again.

I don't think it is necessary to prune them. That is the beauty of it, as Julie said....

We never did anything to ours except pick 'em and eat 'em!

Linda

Yep- wild ones are just that- they fend for themselves- You don't have to coddel them cuz we humans muddeled with them while trying to bring out "more desirable traits". They have spent millions of years perfecting themselves-
For blackcaps- you really don't want to prune them as they will reach and bow down to touch their cane tips to the earth and start a whole new plant! As if the bird dispersal program wasn't good enough!
I hope you are still enjoying them!
Julie

I dicovered these lush wild rasberries on my 1 acre rental property in Australia when I first moved in about a year ago.Though they were growing so well,I decided to plant several rows of them from new sprouts,just for fun.Must admit,I did prune them back once at the end of summer, as a friend told me they would produce more fruit.Anyway,they look so bushy and healthy,and the amount of fruit on each bush is unbelievable.There not ripe yet,but there will be heaps!Was just thinking,for those who arnt fortunate enough to have there own forest,this might be a good optional method of getting your berry fix.
Lee

There is a wild black raspberry patch near our childhood home, that my brother and I guard the location only known to us for 20 years now. We do share but we hoard a lot of them ourselves.

Jam. Freeze em. Smash with a little sugar over ice cream...it's my MOST FAVORITE ever.

I think what you have is a non-native running rampant in your gardens. I kill them wherever they show up out here in Meeker co. Been working on it for 5 years now and still not ahead of them. I suggest you not pamper them, but slay them at every opportunity.
The chap in Aussie land has a very serious problem with wild raspberries in his country. They are sort of the Kudzu of down-under. I was there and saw it first hand.

I have been observing a large proliferation of what look like wild raspberry plants grow around our local, Northern Michigan trails, near Mesick, Michigan. It is too early to tell what they are, but I assume, since the blackberries don't appear until late summer, that these are raspberry plants. Can anyone help me determine if they are indeed rasbperries?