Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch™ Raspberries: Delivering Even More Raspberry Flavor

For our Driscoll's Joy Makers, our raspberries have been a decades-long labor of love. Each year, our Joy Makers breed and test hundreds of raspberry varieties to perfect characteristics like flavor, appearance, and shelf life. And every once in a Raspberry Moon, our Joy Makers discover a proprietary variety so flavorful—and so sweet!—they know they simply must share it with you, which is how our Sweetest Batch™ Raspberries ended up in your grocer’s produce section at certain times of the year!

WHAT ARE DRISCOLL’S SWEETEST BATCH™ RASPBERRIES?

It’s true, Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch™ Raspberries may look similar to our legacy raspberries, with their signature crimson color and perfectly plump texture. But as with many things in life, things are not always as they appear. One nibble of these unique berries will tell you, you’ve found a berry that stands out from the rest. So how do you tell our Sweetest Batch™ Raspberries apart from our everyday go-to raspberries? Just look for the pink, yellow, and red label with gold accents.

With Driscoll’s raspberries, our Joy Makers are always trying to figure out what our berry lovers love the most about berry flavor —and time after time, sweetness is a key factor. So when our Joy Makers came upon a raspberry variety that’s extra sweet, they knew they were onto something truly exceptional.

WHAT MAKES DRISCOLL’S SWEETEST BATCH™ RASPBERRIES DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TYPES OF RASPBERRIES?

This unique berry proved to be 25 percent sweeter, with even more raspberry flavor; its taste-testing results showed ratings that were consistently off the charts. And at taste-testing trials, this berry’s sample plate would always be empty before the rest.

While this raspberry variety may have delivered serious flavor, its soft texture made it difficult to harvest and ship. One of our Joy Makers told us, “The variety almost got dropped from our program because it was just too soft and delicate, but its flavor was just too special to let go, so we had to make it work.”

And make it work, they did. Over time, our Joy Makers improved upon the qualities that our consumers love, while keeping the characteristics that our independent growers prefer, breeding a raspberry that kept its incredibly sweet flavor while improving upon its yield and transportability. The result? A proprietary berry variety that stood out from the rest.

GROWING THE SWEETEST RASPBERRY VARIETY

With our Sweetest Batch™ Raspberries, we ask our independent growers to change the harvest interval to ensure the berries are at peak flavor—what’s that mean, exactly? We leave it on the vine a little longer, so it’s sweeter, plumper, and juicier.

Because of their intense sweetness, they’re also incredibly soft—the sweeter the berry, the more delicate it is. So handle them with care and enjoy them within a day or two of purchase—but that may not even be an issue. As one Joy Maker told us, “As soon as you open the clamshell, they’re all gonna be gone in a minute anyway.”