The blue raspberry is an artificial flavoring commonly used to enhance the taste of ice pops, candies, syrups, and drinks.
An artificial flavoring is a key to creating a delightful food and beverage product that consumers will try and later on patronize.
Blue raspberry is one of those innovations that offered a sustainable solution to the existing manufacturer and consumer predicaments that existed in a particular era.
It is a flavoring that rose to popularity in the late ’50s and has remained to be patronized by consumers up to this day.
For most people, this flavor brings out a lot of fond childhood memories but if you haven’t tasted the blue raspberry yourself, you would wonder how it tastes like.
It would be normal to assume that this flavor is a combination of blueberry and raspberry. If you have found yourself being baffled by this unique flavor, do not be surprised because this artificial flavoring has really triggered the thoughts of most consumers since the day of its inception.
Once you’ve tasted it, you will come to realize that it does not taste like blueberry at all and its flavor is something that’s hard to pin down. This is because the flavor profile of blue raspberry is made up of a range of other fruits such as banana, pineapple, and cherry.
Raspberry has a distinctive taste that’s difficult to duplicate and although this artificial flavoring was inspired by the actual fruit, you would be astonished to find that it tastes nothing like the raspberry.
The blue raspberry is an invented flavor that owes its success to its brilliant blue color that triggers thoughts and sparks imagination. It was created to catch the attention of young consumers and its investors were successful in their venture, to say the least.
Those who have enjoyed consuming blue raspberry ice pops in their childhood have not forgotten its flavor and most even long for the flavor even in their adult life.
Fortunately, the adult lovers of this delightful blue raspberry flavor can continue to take delight in this sweet treat since it is now incorporated in a lot of different products in the market.
Aside from the phenomenal blue raspberry ice pops, you will now find this flavor in energy drinks, vodka, and even vapes.
How Did The Blue Raspberry Flavor Come About?
It was in the late 1950s when the blue raspberry flavor was first used as the answer for the artificial flavor dilemma for popsicles.
This flavored ice on a stick became really popular that companies had to think of innovative ideas in order to offer different colors and flavor variations in the market.
The family-run company, Gold Medal in Cincinnati, Ohio is the first known company that added the blue raspberry on top of the already established cherry, strawberry, and watermelon flavors.
Their marketing strategy was to bring a new product that is slightly different from the ones that already exist in the market. Red is an effective color to use that never fails to catch the attention of young consumers but all the existing flavors of popsicles are naturally reddish.
Consumers need to tell the difference between the flavors that are offered, especially so that most popsicle companies sell their products in a pack. A pack of popsicles normally contains all the flavor offerings and they all come in different shades of red and pink.
Companies combine these two attractive colors in order to create variations in their product.
Originally, the raspberry flavor was formulated using the darker shade of red known as FD&C Red Number 2 or the Amaranth color. Aside from the lack of variation, this dye that was used to achieve the raspberry color caused public concern.
So, the US Food and Drug Administration placed the Red Number 2 under their provisional list of food dye but it was in 1958 that the Amaranth color was banned entirely because of it being a possible carcinogen.
For that reason, the Gold Medal company created and launched their new innovation. They launched their Italian ice which included the raspberry flavor, no longer in deep wine red but in bright blue color.
It instantly became a huge hit that other popsicle companies such as Otter Pops and Fla-Vor-Ice had to follow the lead. This presented more options in the market for all consumers young and old.
That marked the beautiful beginning of this delightful flavor that has paved its path from the laboratories to the people’s kitchen.
Does Blue Raspberry Actually Exist In Nature?
Blue raspberry does not actually exist in nature. There is no known berry that possesses the bright blue hue of this famous blue raspberry flavor.
Although the flavor was based in reality, the fact remains that it still comes from the laboratories and not from the farms. The blue raspberry was inspired by the whitebark raspberry or blackcap raspberry with the scientific name of Rubus leucodermis.
It is the least known berry that commonly grows in the wild. When ripe, the fruit turns into a deep purple hue which is a far cry from the bright blue color of the blue raspberry that we know.
It is also related to the black raspberry which is evident in the texture that the two fruit shares. Most people have never eaten or even seen this type of berry until the phenomenal popsicle flavor became a hit.
The invention of the blue raspberry flavor in popsicles has solved the red flavor dilemma of ice pop manufacturers as well as the growing health concerns of the consumers.
On top of that, it also introduced a least known fruit to the world. Today, the whitebark raspberry is also commonly called blue raspberry. People can not help but incorporate the blue raspberry flavor into the real fruit where it was inspired from.
A blue raspberry-flavored food may not look and taste like the real-life Rubus leucodermis but the fruit has risen to popularity and all that it owes to the artificial flavor that people have grown to love.