What is blue raspberry? Is it just a flavoring, or is there a fruit?
The whitebark raspberry is naturally blue, but the blue raspberry flavor we know doesn't have anything to do with it. In fact, artificial raspberry flavor, blue or otherwise, was developed primarily from banana, cherry, and pineapple flavors.So, how did it get to be blue? The jury's still out on that one, but each of these factors probably played a role:There were plenty of red flavors already: Cherry, watermelon, apple, etc.Red No. 2, a once-popular food dye, was facing criticism for potentially causing cancer around when blue raspberry started to pop up. Red No. 2 was eventually banned in the United States, but Blue No. 1 didn’t have any controversy.ICEE, one of the earliest blue raspberry adopters, claims the bright color of its version was meant to match the color in its logo and to complement its already popular red cherry flavor.