Strawberries are a favorite fruit for many people. Mention strawberries and some complimentary words would include chocolate, tart, and summertime. They are full of Vitamin C and are a delicious treat to eat no matter what the time of year. It is one of the fruits to have seeds on the outside instead of the inside. The other fruit is the Cashew fruit. They can also be grown in a garden at home if the soil and temperature are right. If you want more information about strawberries, take a look at these interesting facts.
Interesting Facts About Strawberries
History of strawberries
Strawberries were known in Roman culture and were the food of choice. They fell out of favor as the Empire of Rome fell. Re-emerging during the period of the Medieval as a medicinal fruit, they continued to grow in favor again. In the 18th century, the fruit just gained in popularity back as a healthy and tasty fruit. In 1850, strawberries were only eaten by the wealthy. As transportation was developed, the pricing came down, and more people were able to eat strawberries. In the 20th century, the nutritional value of fruits improved their popularity.
Medicinal benefits
Many different cultures have used strawberry in healing. Several diseases such as fever, kidney stones, throat infections, liver, spleen and blood diseases, gout, bad breath, and melancholy were thought to be helped by the medicinal properties of the strawberry. Today, they have powerful antioxidants that can help the body reduce cellular damage, reduce risks for inflammatory diseases and cardiovascular diseases.
Madame Tallien
Madame Tallien was a French noblewoman during the time of Napoleon. She had a strange habit of bathing in strawberries. She used twenty-two pounds of strawberries per basin to take a bath with. However, she didn’t soak every single day in the strawberry juice as bathing daily was not in fashion.
California and strawberries
If you decided to put all the strawberries that California produces in a year side by side, you would have strawberries wrapping the world at least 15 times. California also produces over one billion pounds of strawberries in a year. Strawberries are grown throughout the US and Canada.
Fun Facts About Strawberries
- You think strawberries are only red? Think twice! There are yellow, blue, white, black, purple strawberries too. Some strawberries are of apple size.
- There are 200 seeds on an average strawberry. Plus, they’re the only fruit to wear their seeds on the outside.
- Don’t rinse cut strawberries under water until you’re ready to eat them—it speeds up spoiling.
- There is a museum in belgium dedicated to strawberries. In the gift shop at le musée de la fraise (the strawberry museum), you can buy everything from strawberry jam to strawberry beer.
- In france, where they’re believed to be an aphrodisiac, strawberries are served to newlyweds at traditional wedding breakfasts in the form of a creamy sweet soup.
- According to a legend, if you cut a double strawberry into two and share the other part with the opposite gender, you would soon fall in love.
