What’s your favorite flavor of Jolly Rancher? Ours is blue raspberry. But have you ever thought to think about what blue raspberries are? Have you ever seen blue raspberries? We haven’t. They’re not a real thing. Blue raspberry flavor is found in everything from candy to popsicles, so what is it?
Blue raspberry started off red, but due to the food color dye, specifically Red No. 2 being deemed unsafe by the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 and the Color Additive Amendment of 1960. That’s when they decided to use Blue No. 1 in the ’70s, which resulted in blue raspberry. It started with a frozen treat company called ICEE because the blue color resembled the blue the brand was using in its marketing.
One of the reasons blue raspberry became so popular is because it stands out from other fruit-flavored treats. It’s easier to tell it apart from cherry, watermelon, and strawberry. Pretty cool—right?
In regards to if there’s a blue raspberry out there, well, the color most resembles the whitebark raspberry that’s grown in western parts of North America, which is blue-black when it’s ripe. But it’s not nearly as vibrant as the blue raspberry shade. Whitebark raspberries aren’t sweet like the blue raspberry flavor you’re familiar with.
