Strawberries for Dessert

Flower of the Field: Fruit of the (very near) Future

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A common site around the country, -strawberry blossoms! Both domestic and wild strawberries have amazing flavor. The common strawberry as we know it today was an accidentally crossbreed from a variety taken from an eastern North American variety regarded for its flavor, and a Chilean variety noted for its much larger size.

Such Beauty, Such Taste!

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Strawberries are actually a ‘false fruit’ meaning that they are not the swollen ovaries of the plant (which is by definition, “fruit”) but are instead, the peg at the bottom of a bowl-shaped structure called the “hypanthium” that holds the ovaries.

If you are Allergic: I’m sorry! Everyone Else: OMG Yum!

Don't you want to just gnaw right through this son-of-a-bitch and leave a trail holes like the holes in Swiss Cheese? Okay, -its my fantasy but anyway...

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (“FAO”) reports that the United States was the top producer of strawberries worldwide in the 2005 , with the nation of Spain holding second place. Unlike many other fruits, strawberries do not continue to ripen once they have been picked. So, if picking your own, select only the ripe ones. Any strawberry with green or white splotches should be left to continue ripening on the vine.

Size Matters Not!

Strawberries from the same field will taste the same, despite any differences in size. Once they are red, they are ripe and the flavor is the same no matter what size of the berry.

Strawberries can be consumed fresh, made into preserves (jams and jellies), dried, frozen, etc. They are often a favorite when used in ice cream, cereal bars,  milkshakes and yogurts. Allegedly, strawberries (I assume when eaten raw?) are said to whiten teeth.. I can’t say whether or not I believe that tale and I have yet to see any strawberry toothpaste but sure!- Why not?

Well Where’s The Fun In That?

-Am I the only one that can smell these? I can almost TASTE these! Yummy!

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Most strawberries produced are ‘self-fertilizing.’ They require no action to produce the quintessential fruit.

But the pollination activities of bees have been proven to produce both larger and more uniformly shaped strawberries. A commercial strawberry producer would then be wise to place a few honeybee hives near their strawberry fields. This would not only serve to aid for the better strawberry and increased yield, but it would make for some amazing bee honey and perhaps aid the honeybees themselves as there has been a mysterious decline in honeybee populations in recent years. Honeybees are very essential for our crops and fruit, and for some reason there has been a die-off of bees. -It is believed to possibly be a rampant fungal infection of the bees which causes them to leave the hive about their normal activities and not be able to find their way back home, in which case they die. The honeybee population of the hive suffers as a result. Eventually, the hive becomes defunct and dies. Placing honeybee hives close to a local nectar source might keep them quarantined from this fungal infestation at~large instead of far-ranging in search of other nectar sources. This might help to preserve the bees until such time as this fungus problem is resolved, cured or dies out naturally.

But that is for another story…

Excellent for Desserts

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(Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin) Okay this has got to be like the most delicious thing on the planet right here! I would love to start my day with something like this (and it would be a great evening snack as well!)

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I have never had this before but it looks really good. Pieplant (rhubarb) and strawberries make an excellent dessert when gently stewed together, with some sugar to taste. A sort of thick compote. My grandmother used to make that (suddenly, I’m feeling a bit homesick again…)

Weird Faces in your Fruits

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