the fruit of plants of the genus Fragaria, is a symbol of the Virgin Mary and also of summer and of the delights of summer fruit. As Andrew Boorde (1542, also ed. Furnivall, 1870) put it: ‘Rawe crayme undecocted, eaten with strawberys or hurtes [whortleberry, bilberry, etc.] is a rural mannes banket.’
However, Boorde's strawberries were far removed from the fruits grown today (and still eaten with cream). In fact, the kinds of strawberry cultivated now date back only to the 17th century, as explained below.
The Latin name fraga refers to the fruit's fragrance. The English word ‘strawberry’ is due to the ‘straying’ erratic habit of the plant, which it shares with many other members of the rose family, such as the blackberry.
Wild strawberries are indigenous to both the Old and the New World. The small, wild strawberry of temperate zones in Europe and Asia is Fragaria vesca, of which an Alpine variety is recognized, and also an American one. F. moschata, the hautbois or musky strawberry, belongs to C. Europe. F. virginiana is native to N. America and known as scarlet or Virginia strawberry; and F. chiloensis, pine or beach strawberry, to S. America.
Wild strawberry varieties are little cultivated commercially because of their small fruits and low yield, but some of them are among the most delicious of all strawberries, and are much sought in the wild and sold for high prices.
Strawberry cultivation, using the European wild species, had begun by the 14th century, but progressed slowly until the colonization of the Americas and the discovery of F. virginiana, enjoyed both fresh and dried by American Indians. This species was introduced into Europe in the early 17th century, and was followed later by F. chiloensis, a larger and juicier species with a pineapple flavour, found on the west coast of N. and S. America but associated particularly with Chile; its specific name comes from the large island Chiloé in that country. It was brought into France by a French officer, Frézier, who had found the plants growing at the foot of the Andes.
Eventually the two American species began to hybridize naturally, and the result was F. × ananassa, the modern cultivated strawberry. A major role was played here by the botanist Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, who published his Histoire naturelle des fraisiers in 1766, when he was only 19. However, the innovators of the 19th century were British. Thomas Andrew Knight pioneered large-scale, systematic strawberry-breeding, producing two famous varieties, the Downton and the Elton. On the crest of this wave, a market gardener called Michael Keens produced the ‘Keens' Seedling’, remarkable for size and flavour. It caused a sensation when it came into cultivation in 1821 and quickly spread to the Continent and to America. Virtually all modern varieties are derived from it.
In recent times, one of the most productive sources of new varieties has been the ‘Universities program’ in California. Commercial cultivation of strawberries in the USA had begun on the eastern seaboard, in the region from Boston to Baltimore. It then shifted southwards and inland, in tune with the development of railroads and refrigeration, and had reached the Pacific north-west before 1900. Later, within five years of the introduction of the ‘University varieties’ in 1945, California came to dominate the American strawberry industry in quantity of production and in length of season.
There is great and increasing diversity of flavour and other characteristics, including season, amongst the new varieties; and the general effect, worldwide, is to make fresh strawberries available for longer than in the past. Despite the excellence of well-made strawberry jam and such confections as strawberry shortcake, no one would deny that this fruit is most delicious when eaten fresh. Cream is the traditional accompaniment in England; elsewhere in Europe, sour cream is preferred. In France and Italy, red wine may be used instead (as also happened in England, for Thomas Hyall, writing in 1593, said that strawberries were ‘much eaten at all men's tables in the summer with wine and sugar’).
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Boorde, Andrew (1542), A Dyetary of Health, ed F. J. Furnivall, London: Early English Text Society (1870).
Whiteaker, Stafford (1985), The Compleat Strawberry, London: Century Publishing.
