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Wild Strawberries (54)
uleko
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2543 W: 170 N: 7734]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (24475) | Wild Strawberry – Fragaria vesca
No fly this time, but a most delicious berry that I wish you all had a chance to taste. We miss tropical fruits in Sweden but instead we have many delicious wild berries and this one is my favourite. As children we used to pick them in dry meadows and thread them on to a long dry grass stem. At home we used to eat them together with Bilberries, sugar and cream. Here around Ahus they grow in sunny glades in the Pine woods.
It is a short perennial with long runners, rooting at intervals which means you often find them growing together in large patches. The flowers are white (see Workshop)on short stems. The berries are much smaller than Strawberries and covered all over by seeds and with the sepals bent back.
Carl Linnaeus suffered from gout. He was also very fond of wild strawberries. So fond, indeed, that he was partial to an 'ample bowl' of the fruit both morning and evening when his gout was really plaguing him. It has been tempting to make fun of the King of the Flowers - wild strawberries against gout, what next! - yet in fact recent research could well prove him right. Strawberries are very rich in antioxidants and richer in vitamin C than lemons and oranges.
Wild Strawberries are also used in the making of wines and liqueurs. They are found all over Sweden except
in mountainous areas.
Many of you may remember ‘Wild Strawberries’ as the title of a film by the great Swedish film producer Ingmar Bergman who died last year. |
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