“Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I’ve been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you
Headlights, on me
Racing to sixty, I’ve been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like
Blue eyes, black jeans
Lighters and candy, I’ve been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you”

I’m humming this absolute sweet song of Troye Sivan. After reading Lois Lenski’s Strawberry woman, I wished to manoeuvre to Everglade State and grow strawberries with Birdie Boyer and her family. Oh! How much I love that book! Later, I came to know Shakespeare had decorated Desdemona’s handkerchief with pretty symbolic strawberries. Strawberries pretty much steal the show, whether artfully arranged in a tart, perched atop a cloud of topping, or seductively dipped in dark chocolate. They’re so aesthetic by themselves, the deep red colour and heart shape a symbol of Venus, Goddess of Love.

The strawberry is elementally tied to Water and is governed by the planet Venus. Strawberries are a natural stop on the road to love. It’s no secret that strawberries have a history of being perceived as a romantic food. But why only strawberry fruit is considered as “fruit of love”? Well, let me tell you. Because, they are a symbol of sensuality and purity, humidity and modesty, fertility and abundance. It pairs so well with chocolates and stereotypically love-centric items because of the colour and shape.

Origin of the Name

There are some different stories behind the origin of the name. The widely accepted version is that the berries would drop off the leaves and become “strewn” concerning the plant. Overtime “strewn-berries” became “strawberries”. There was a time (and some gardeners still do that today) once strawberry beds were mulched with straw, insulating the plants over the winter, keeping weeds cornered throughout the season and creating them easier to reap. Another sweet story tells of English youngsters stringing the berries on grass straws and merchandising the “strawberries” in their neighbourhoods.

Origin of Strawberry

Strawberries have a very ancient origin and are considered to be born in France. The first variety cultivated dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Commonly, the term strawberry means the edible part of the Fragaria vesca plant, but in reality, they are not real fruits, but the enlarged receptacle of an inflorescence. The real fruits are identified in the so-called “achenes’’, or better known as the yellow seeds on the surface of the strawberry. It originates from France basically.

The first variety cultivated dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Its scientific name is Fragaria and derives from the Latin word fragrans (fragrant), just in virtue of the intense aroma released by its fruits, especially those that grow spontaneously in the woods. The strawberry is a member of the Rosaceae family and the most common varieties are hybrid of the wild Virginia strawberry and Chilean variety. The strawberries that we currently grow and eat come from the creation of a hybrid, a random cross between two American octoploid species of Fragaria. Until just over two centuries ago, in fact, the strawberries that were known were wild spontaneous species, wild strawberries that grew in many areas of the world.

History of Strawberry

According to mythology, the strawberry was particularly loved by the Romans especially during the holidays dedicated to Adonis and is governed by the planet Venus. When Adonis was gored by a wild boar, the tears that Venus, the goddess of love had reached the earth, turned into small red heart-shaped fruits. During the Middle Ages, this fruit, in shape and colour, began to be called “heart fruit”, as food capable of appeasing the passions of love. Later, the strawberry became a symbol of fertility due to its many exterior seeds. The fruit looks so alluring in fact, that strawberries were carved into church altars and cathedral pillars in medieval times to represent perfection.

Strawberry represents perfection in the Victorian language of the flower. A double strawberry will bring you, love! Legend has it that by breaking a double strawberry in half and sharing it with another person, you will fall in love with each other. The French considered strawberry to be an aphrodisiac. They served strawberry soup to newly-weds. In parts of Bavaria, country folk still practise the annual rite each spring of tying small baskets of wild strawberries to the horns of their cattle as an offering to elves. It is believed that the elves, who are passionately fond of strawberries, will bless healthy calves and abundance of milk in return.

Until the sixteenth century, strawberries weren’t extremely regarded. Then some individuals began to attribute their therapeutic qualities: in keeping with a German intellectual, Crollius, the fruit may cure the infectious disease as it was absolutely similar in look to the symptom of the disease; for Della orifice (Italian thinker and alchemist) it absolutely was instead a remedy for wounds as a result of it absolutely was red like blood; lady Tallien created a lot of use of it between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, who used 10 kilos at a time to wash and maintain lovely skin. The ancient Romans believed that the berries alleviated symptoms of melancholy, fainting, all inflammations, fevers, throat infections, kidney stones, halitosis, attacks of gout, and diseases of the blood, liver and spleen.