Strawberry Facts - Your Online Source for Information on Strawberries
Strawberry Facts Will Tell You a Lot About the Fruit
• Number one of all strawberry facts is that strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside.
• The average strawberry has 200 seeds. Some breeders are growing strawberries with 400 seeds.
• Strawberries are the first spring fruit.
• Strawberries are low calorie and low-fat. Plus, they are high in vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, and potassium.
• Native Americans had a different name for strawberries. They called then "heart-seed berries" and added them to traditional corn-meal bread.
• During strawberry production, every plant is picked every third day.
• Eight strawberries or one serving contains 140% of the U.S. recommended daily allowance for Vitamin C.
• Fresh strawberries are never stored. They are whisked away immediately in refrigerated trucks.
• California produced 83% of the strawberries grown in the United States.
• The strawberry belongs to the genus Fragraria in the rose family. So do apples and plums.
• U.S. strawberry facts indicate that every American eats 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries every year. In addition, they consume another 1.8 pounds of frozen strawberries.
• Strawberries are grown in every state in the U.S. and in every province in Canada.
• Strawberries were grown in ancient Rome and were used for their medicinal properties in the 13th Century.
• Strawberries symbolized peace and prosperity in Medieval times.
• In Belgium, there is a museum for strawberries.
• A strawberry plant should never get hotter than 78 degrees or colder than 55 degrees.
• The American colonists created strawberry shortcake.
• Strawberries were named from the nineteenth century practice of mulching berries with straw.
• In France, strawberries were once thought to be an aphrodisiac. Newlyweds were fed a soup made of strawberries, thinned sour cream, borage, & powered sugar.
• A mixture of strawberry juice and honey is good for the inflammation of sunburn.
• In ancient Rome, people believed that strawberries healed melancholy, fainting, inflammation, kidney stones, fever, bad breath, gout, blood and liver diseases.
• If all the strawberries produced in California this year were laid berry to berry, side by side, they would wrap around the world one hundred and fifteen times.
• Florida is second to California in the production of strawberries.
• The strawberry you eat is not actually a fruit or a berry. It is the enlarged receptacle of the flower.
• 53% of 7- to 9-year-olds say their favorite fruit is the strawberry.
• Strawberries are good for pregnant women because they contain folic acid.
• Strawberry facts tell us that the first important American variety of strawberries, the Hovey, was grown in Massachusetts in 1834.
• Strawberries are ranked as the number two fruit in anti-oxidant content.
• Through the centuries, strawberries have been associated with love and flirtation.
• California strawberry facts show that there are 24,500 acres of strawberries planted in the state.
• Medieval stone masons carved strawberry designs on altars and around the tops of pillars in churches and cathedrals to symbolize perfection and righteousness.