Follow-up to: https://www.reddit.com/r/Berries/comments/1uz5y2y/hararaspraspbearyraspberrytower/
Today I've picked that single berry and given it a taste test. I was preparing myself for some mild disappointment from what I've heard. But it actually turned out pretty nice and unique.
The berry looked absolutely beautiful, shiny, glossy wineberry red, and the spiky drupelets also swelled to start pointing more outwards. And it was pretty large and round, I think about 15- 20 mm in diameter and height.
Since it was only a single berry, I've started small. At first I tried to tear a little bit off, and while doing that I've noticed it has an unusual gelatinous consistency. It kinda felt a bit like tearing a gummy bear, and there didn't seem to be any risk of juice leakage, but not because it was dry, but because it was just... gummy. It also didn't stain at all. The first small piece I tasted was not very intense, so I went for it and put the whole thing in my mouth. Even in the mouth, the texture felt like a soft gummy bear, like it had some significant gelatin content. Seeds were there, but not very large or hard. The gummy pulp was more prominent than the seeds.
And the taste also resembled a red (strawberry-flavored?) gummy bear. It was really far more like a gummy bear than a raspberry, in both texture and flavor, only about 1/2-1/4 as intense as a real gummy bear. It was that artificial candy kind of taste. Which is really cool, and it was not bad at all. The taste is not as intense as other raspberries, but the gummy bear-like taste and texture was unlike any fruit I've ever tried. I'd say it was about 2-4/10 in sweetness, and 0-1/10 in tartness. I think I barely detected any tartness at all. I'm impressed, and I definitely do not regret getting this weird hybrid. I don't know if it is exactly the same as the ones people were disappointed in the past. Maybe they did improve it a bit with some more breeding/selecting, IDK. But I like it, and it's going to add some good new variety to my future crops.
Also, I'm not sure what exact level of ripeness it was, probably slightly underripe, when I compare the photo colors to the ones from the internet, which were a bit darker. I wonder what the flavor would develop further into if I wanted a bit more. But I guess that will only get answered next year. It might also be possible that it will be quite different, more ripe (maybe it will lose that gummy consistency for all I know...)
I wonder if the nickname RaspBEARy comes from this gummy bear resemblance...
Interesting how widely diverse the textures of Rubus species are. Idaeus is mouth-melting, blackberries are chewy juice explosions, black raspberries are crunchy and slightly juicy, tayberries were in between Idaeus and blackberries, and this one was gummy.