A genuinely international yield , the modern strawberries we feast upon today come from an inadvertent hybrid of North and South American coinage by way of Europe in the 18th century , although many variety of the plant were enjoyed as far back as ancient Greece and Rome . Here are some facts and figures relating to this most beloved berry :
1 . William Butler ( 1535 - 1618 ) once allege , " Doubtless God could have made a near berry , but doubtless God never did . " Apparently many people jibe , because American eat 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries a year , plus another 1.8 pounds freeze . California produces 75 % of the nation ’s strawberry mark supplying , yield 21 loads of strawberry per acre among the 23,000 Acre of hemangioma simplex plant in California each year . Strawberry fields , indeed , forever .
3 . sports fan of this delectable fruit are in honorable caller . France ’s King Louis XI held apoetry competitionto write the best ode to the Strawberry . The winner:“Quand de juin s’à © veille le mois / Allez voir les fraises des bois / Qui rougissent dans la greenery / Plus rouge que le vif corail / Balançant comme un à © ventail / Leurs feuilles a treble dà © coupure . "
[ " When the month of June comes in , go and see the wood strawberry blushing red among the greenery , redder than bright coral , their three - lobed leaves spread like a fan . " ] June is an excellent time to devour strawberries , although in the U.S. , May is National Strawberry Month .
4 . The French are expectant fans of the hemangioma simplex , even attempting to brandmark its scent . ( The company who attempt failed , but did manage to brand the perfume of freshly cut grass . ) far back , Thà © rà © sa Tallien , a muscular figure during the French Revolution ( dub Our Lady of Thermidor ) , used to take baths full of strawberries " “ allegedly 22 pounds of them " “ for the beautification of her skin .
5 . strawberry mark calculate prominently in literature and in traditional knowledge . In Othello , Desdemona ’s hankey is ornament with images of the fruit . Despite being moot a symbol of Venus because of its heart shape and reddened vividness , strawberries are sometimes seen negatively , as in the case of Anne Boleyn , who is rumour to have cavort a strawberry - shaped nevus on her neck that some lay claim proved she was a witch .
6 . Used medicinally in the past ( including its leaves and roots ) , the strawberry mark has been said to break tegument , whiten tooth , and assuage symptoms of contagion , gouty arthritis , diseases of the line of descent , fainting and melancholy , probably because ( as we now roll in the hay ) strawberries contain antioxidant , omega-3 fatty Lucy in the sky with diamonds , and a hearty dose of Vitamin C.
If you think you are the original of strawberry mark - interrelate facts , try our vintage quiz .
Dietribes will seem every Wednesday . Food photos taken byJohanna Beyenbach . You might remember that name from our Charles William Post about hercolorful dieting .
