field note
Hisalu — the wild Himalayan raspberry
A handful of golden Himalayan raspberries picked off a bush along the upper path. The whole hillside is fruiting before we even begin.
· Sameer Jain · 1 min read
This is hisalu, the Garhwali name for the wild golden Himalayan raspberry (Rubus ellipticus). It grows in scrubby tangles along every path on this hillside, and for two weeks in May, anyone with a hand and a bit of patience can come back with a fistful.
The fruit is the colour of turmeric and tastes the way a peach would if peaches were thinner and warmer and slightly sour. Each berry has a delicate seed at the centre that crunches gently against the teeth. Older women in the village know which bushes are sweetest; they pass that knowledge down the way they pass down recipes.
We had not planted any fruit yet when this photograph was taken. The saplings were still in their bags, the soil tests not yet back, the contour map only just drawn. And the hillside was already doing what we hoped it would learn to do.
A reminder, in your hand.