Blue raspberry may be the go-to flavor for candies and popsicles but the flavor itself is not found in nature. The story goes that blue raspberry “originated in a laboratory, not a farm” as it was created by frozen drink companies to distinguish the raspberry flavor of popsicles from other flavors such as cherry, strawberry, and watermelon.
Back then, most of these flavors (including the raspberry one) were all presented in shades of red and it became increasingly difficult for customers to tell one flavor apart from the other.
As a result, for the raspberry flavor to stand out from the rest, popsicle makers used the ‘Brilliant Blue (FD&C Blue No. 1)’ artificial food dye to give their raspberry popsicles and beverages a distinctive shade of blue.
But when it comes to flavor, blue raspberry does not mimic the flavor of an ordinary raspberry. This is because most companies do not use raspberry in their blue raspberry products and instead prefer less costly substitutes such as apples or oranges to bring out the flavor.
However, it is noted that the blue raspberry flavor tastes similar to the flavor of ‘blackcap raspberry’ (also known as ‘whitebark raspberry’) that is found in the wild.
