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Tayberries taste and smell like a blackberries, though they ripen earlier. The berries are also very fragrant. Tayberries are very soft, making them hard to pick without squishing them, so they are seldom sold commercially fresh.

The Tayberry bush grows 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 metres) tall; the canes need trellises or support. There are lots of thorns, though thornless cultivars such as "Buckingham" are now available. The bush is cold hardy down to -15 F (-26 C.)

The berries, produced only on year-old canes, are reddish purple, and the size of blackberries, but cone-shaped, up to 1 1/2 inches (3 1/2 cm) long.

Each bush will yield about 14 pounds (6.3 kg) of Tayberries.

Cooking Tips
Tayberries are considered by most too tart to eat fresh out of hand. They are used for canning, freezing, jams, jellies and wines.

History
The Tayberry was developed in Invergowrie, Scotland by a Dr David Jennings in 1962 at the "Scottish Horticultural Research Institute" (renamed to "Scottish Crop Research Institute" in 1981.) The institute is located west of Dundee on the north shore of the Tay river. The Tayberry is a cross between a black raspberry developed at the Institute known as "626/67" and an Aurora blackberry, developed in Oregon (*not* a Loganberry, as reported in many places.) The berry was released commercially in 1979. It is named after the Tay river in Scotland.

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