History

The strawberry belongs to the rosacea family. It is a perennial plant that produces new buds every year.

It consists of a base rosette out of which come the leaves and stalks with flowers, both of the same length. The stalks and their flowers have no leaves. The flowers are at the end of the stalks and have five white petals, five sepals and numerous stamens. The stalks of the leaves are hairy. Each one bears a compound leaf with three jagged oval leaves. These are bright green on their top surface and paler and hairy underneath, where the nerve lines stand out. Another type of creeping stalk comes out of the base rosette and produces self-propagating roots from which other plants are born.

The fruit that we know as "strawberry" is really an enlargement of the floral receptacle, and the spots that cover it are the real fruit. It is a sweet, red aromatic plant.

Properties

The strawberry is grown especially for its gastronomic use. Its fruits are appropriate for dietry use, due to their low concentration of glucides. One cup (144 g) of strawberries contains approximately 45 calories and is an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin P or bioflavonoids.

Its tender leaves can be eaten, although this is infrequent. The leaves must be collected when the plant is in full flower; the roots, when they are about to become dry; and the bright pink fruit when it is fully ripe.

The fruit must be kept in the shade and away from heat and humidity.

It is also used as a medicinal plant, with the following properties:

• Diuretic and anti-rheumatic: three to four cups a day of an infusion of the leaves and roots helps counter uric acid, gout and arthritis.
• Anti-cholesterol: the large amount of ascorbic acid, as well the lecitine and pectine content of its fruit, make it ideal to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
• Anti-inflammatory: an infusion of the leaves is beneficial for inflammations of the intestine. Cooking the roots helps to reduce arthritic inflammations.
• Astringent: drinking three to four cups a day of the cooked preparation of its leaves is useful against diarrhoea. Infusiones of its dry leaves are very astringent and can be used to cure mouth sores.
• Mineralizing: its fruit, which is very rich in vitamin C, has value as an anti-anaemic and a tonic. They are very appropriate in periods of growth.
• Its crushed leaves applied to the skin are a good remedy to avoid wrinkles.

Recipes

Strawberry Tart

Ingredients:

For 4 persons
1 kg de strawberries
1 pot of strawberry jam (250 gr)
2 dozen walnuts
puff pastry
confectioner's custard

Preparation:

Roll out the puff pastry with a rolling pin on a clean table and lay it out on an oven tray. Then pour the confectioner's custard on top. Next, put this preparation into the oven at a temperature of 180?. After approximately half an hour take the tray out and wait for it to cool down. Then cover with lines of previously washed and halved strawberries and walnuts. Finally cover with strawberry jam.

Montecarlo Strawberry

Ingredients:

For 4 persons
24 strawberries
½ litre of cream
100 gr. of raspberries
4 eggs
½ litre of Curaçao
1 cup ans 4 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup of water
Mint leaves

Preparation:

Clean the strawberries, remove tails and put 12 in a bowl. Sprinkle with un couple of tablespoons of sugar, spread half the Curaçao over them and leave to macerate.

Put 2 tablespoons of sugar a bowl, add half of the cream and the raspberries. Crush them a little with a spatula. Chop the rest of the strawberries and add them to a saucepan with the cup of sugar and the cup of water.

Boil until a syrup is formed. Beat the egg yolks with an electric whisk. Add the syrup little by little, beating all the time. When you have beaten the yolks, add 1 glass of liqueur, little by little and mix with a spatula. Beat the rest of the cream and mix it in.

Pour out the mixture into individual moulds and leave in the freezer until it is hard. Take it out of the mould and accompany it with a little red fruit with cream and some strawberries with Curaçao. Decorate with a few mint leaves.

Varieties

More than 20 species of Fragaria are known, varying in the number of chromosomes, showing a large number of polyploids. The most common wild species are diploids, which have two sets of seven chromosomes; others are tetraploids or hexaploids, and the most resistant hybrids are octoploids and even decaploids. Dardo (1966) indicated that the species with the most chromosomes tend to be more robust and produce larger fruit.

Diploid species

• Fragaria daltoniana
• Fragaria iinumae
• Fragaria nilgerrensis
• Fragaria nipponica
• Fragaria nubicola
• Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry, fruit of the forest)
• Fragaria viridis
• Fragaria yezoensis

Tetraploid species

• Fragaria moupinensis
• Fragaria orientalis

Hexaploid species

• Fragaria moschata (German strawberry)

Species and hybrids of octoploids

• Fragaria x ananassa (enlarged strawberry, pineapple fruit)
• Fragaria chiloensis (strawberry or Chilean fruit)
• Fragaria iturupensis
• Fragaria virginiana (scarlet strawberry)

Species and hybrids of decaploids

• Fragaria x Potentilla
• Fragaria x vescana