There are more than 600 varieties of strawberries from which to choose. In addition to the cultivated berries, there are also many wild varieties. They are smaller than the ones you buy in the supermarket, but in many cases they have a much better flavor.
When I was a small child, our next-door neighbors had a large strawberry patch in their back yard. Every evening, near my bedtime, my mother would go out and lock the gate that separated our yards. As soon as she got back into the house, our neighbors would come out and unlock the gate. They knew that the next morning, before anyone else woke up, I would slip out of the house and head for their strawberry patch. So, every morning, my mother would find me in the strawberry patch with red juice all over myself. Those berries were so good just after the morning sun had warmed them.
Years later, I married and had a child of my own who loved strawberries as much as I did. We owned some property in the country, where we kept our horses and had a small garden. This, of course, included a strawberry patch. Every evening when we went out to feed the horses, Joe would take his little bucket to the garden to pick strawberries, but I would never allow him to eat them until we got home to wash them. One evening Joe disappeared, and after looking all over the farm, we found him in the pasture eating his strawberries that he had just washed in the horses' water bucket.
Health Benefits
Strawberries are members of the rose family, and they are unique because they are the only fruit to have seeds on the outside. They are claimed to have many medicinal uses. The Romans believed that the berries eased these symptoms:
- Melancholy
- Fainting
- Inflammations
- Fevers
- Throat infections
- Kidney stones
- Halitosis
- Attacks of gout
- Diseases of the blood, liver, and spleen
Strawberries are filled with an antioxidant that helps protect cell structures in the body and prevents oxygen damage in the body's organ systems. They help protect your heart; they help prevent cancer, and they help fight inflammation. The antioxidant, called phenols, works much like aspirin or ibuprofen to block pain, but strawberries do not cause intestinal bleeding.
Another substance in the fruit, called ellagitannin, has been associated with declines in cancer deaths. In one study, those eating the most strawberries were three times less likely to develop cancer than those eating few or no strawberries.
In animal studies, researchers have found that strawberries help to protect the brain from stress and the effects of age. Scientists who fed elderly rats with strawberries discovered they had increased learning capacity and motor skills.
Strawberries are a natural super food and excellent sources of:
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin K
- Manganese
- Dietary fiber, iodine, potassium, folate
- Riboflavin
- Vitamin B5
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Vitamin B6
- Magnesium
- Copper
I'm sure we've all been told when we were children that carrots would improve our eyesight. Now it seems that fruit is more important for our sight. Eating three or more servings of fruit a day may lower your risk of macular degeneration, the primary cause of vision loss in older adults. That seems like a lot of fruit, but there are so many different ways to eat strawberries:
- Put them on your cereal in the morning
- Dress up your green salad with strawberry slices
- Mix them with yogurt or cottage cheese
- Serve them in your desserts
- Blend them in your smoothies
- Eat them as a snack
Any way you serve a strawberry, it is delicious.
History
Strawberries have grown wild for millions of years and throughout the world. The first cultivated strawberries appeared sometime before the Christian era and were highly prized by the early Romans. During the Middle Ages, they reappeared in Europe. They did not gain widespread popularity. Even though cultivation techniques were advanced, the berries of the time were not very fragrant or sweet.
Dr. William Butler, a 17th Century English writer, said “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” The strawberries are the best of berries, and they have always been associated with purity, passion, and healing.
When the Colonists arrived in America, they found the American Indians eating bread made of crushed strawberries and cornmeal. After trying it, the Colonials developed their own version of the recipe. Strawberry shortcake was created.
In 1714, while a French engineer was in Chile and Peru to monitor Spanish activities there, he discovered a native strawberry that was much larger than the ones at home. He brought back samples to France. There, they began crossbreeding with a North American variety. The result was a hybrid that was large, juicy, and sweet. It became immediately popular in Europe.
