Juicy Fan Fic & Labors of Love- Strawberry
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Rooted! This week we’re talking about yet another favorite fruit making summer just a little sweeter- Strawberries!
Strawberries, or Fragaria, are actually a species of about 20 different distinct plants, with tons of hybrids and cultivars. While they are all special in their own ways, many of the facts are the same, so from here on out we’re talking about them on the whole unless I call out a specific species.
Strawberries are a member of the rosaceae family, which you can tell from their blooms, which have 5 petals and a center filled with a ton of stamens that eventually form their fruits.
Strawberries are low growing perennial plants that thrive in areas with fertile soil, plenty of water, and just enough sun- but not too much. They are extremely cold hardy, and can be found growing in the wild in ditches, fields, and pretty much anywhere they like. They typically stay pretty low to the ground, preferring to stretch out to give themselves plenty of room. Their leaves are small with a round shape and serrated edges, and they produce white flowers starting in early spring, that will eventually become fruit in june- August depending on the variety.
A fruity fun fact for you all is that the SEEDS of the strawberries are actually what botanists consider the fruit, not the sweet stuff we all like. Strawberries are not actually berries, but are instead what botanists refer to as “accessory aggregate fruits”, which just means that the ovaries of the flower are actually producing the seeds (which are the true fruits) and the flesh around them is instead being produced around it
….and that might seem weird, but ask yourself- if you had the choice between eating a handful of tiny flavorless seeds, or a sweet, sun ripened treat, which one are you picking? And ultimately, that’s why we think plants evolved to do this- they need other creatures to eat their fruit and spread their seeds, so they made themselves extra tasty to make it worth their while.
It is this act of mutual kindness that makes the strawberry so profound, and so highly regarded.
In her book “Braiding Sweetgrass” Robin Wall Kimmerer tells the story of the strawberry as she recalls it from the potawatomi nation, which I will briefly recount, but you should absolutely listen to her tell it- and really her whole book. And her new book- The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World…and her OLD book- Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.
Anyway, according to Wall Kimmerer, Strawberries are a gift from sky woman, who- on the potawatomi and other indigenous origin stories, fell to earth from the sky with nothing but a pocket of seeds. The birds catch her and hold her, but can’t o it forever as they know she needs a place to land. So, the animals set to work trying to get mud to spread on turtle’s back, as there isnt any land yet. Many try and fail, but it is marmot, the weakest swimmer who succeeds in bringing up a small handful of mud.
Sky woman, grateful for the gift, dances on the turtles back, spreading the land and seeds as she does. As the land begins to fill out, skywoman, who was pregnant when she fell, gives birth to a daughter who she loves dearly. As time passes, the daughter grows up and has 2 children- twin boys named flint and sapling. However, she tragically passes while giving birth, and skywoman grieves by burying her in the earth, where in the spring strawberries grow- the first fruit the earth beared, and a gift and act of love for all the people and animals on earth, which is why strawberries are known as ode min or heart berries to the potawatomi, and are an important staple in both their diet and their culture.
In another story from the cherokee nation, strawberries were actually a gift from the sun meant to help the first man and woman come back to each other after a fight.
In this story, the first man and woman get a bit overwhelmed and frustrated by the realities of living with another person- he didn’t like the way she was doing one chore, she hated the way he did another- you know, some of the silly things you deal with when you live with someone for a long time.
But one day the first woman was so frustrated that she decided she no longer wanted to live with the first man. So, she packed up her essentials and hit the road, determined to make the best of a new life alone.
When the first man found his wife had left, he was devastated. He knew they had been fighting a lot, but he didn’t think it was something she would leave over. Gutted and maybe a bit desperate, he looked to the sun in his sorrows. The sun, hating to see anyone suffer, asked the man if he regretted the way he had spoken to his wife, and if we wanted a chance to repair their relationship, to which the man replied he wanted nothing more. So, the sun set to work trying to slow the woman down so the man could catch up…he shone brightly on the path, allowing huckleberries to grow and shine sweetly on the trail- but the woman was undeterred. So, he pulled back a bit, allowing large black berries to glisten in the softer light- but STILL the woman was unmoved. So, the sun decided to really pull out all the stops and make something new- something so sweet and scented that the woman would HAVE to stop- so he created a giant patch of strawberries. And sure enough, the woman stopped.
She tasted a berry, and immediately thought of the sweetness of the first man, and how hasty she might have been in their argument. When she looked at the fruit in her hand, it looked just like a heart, and when she looked back up, the first man was there to say he was sorry. The two took some plants back home, and made a vow to take the time to truly consider each other instead of reacting in haste in moments of stress. To this day, the strawberry is seen as a reminder of this lesson- to act first with kindness, even in moments of struggle.
In another story of love, and a sort of deep cut to our pomegranate episode, It was said that when aphrodite sobbed for adonis (who died because he got a little too cocky and a boar punched a hole in his heart) her tears turned into the sweet and delicate berries due to her undying love for him.
Obvuosuly with stories like that,, its pretty easy to see that people were enamoured with the strawberry. But, they were notrousily hard to grow on a large scale, and their fruits expired quickly, so if you weren’t from a place that had them, you would have had to go on a full on vacation just to taste them….
At one point in the areas of europe that couldn’t grow strawberries- the lands of potatoes and bland flavors, they people were basically writing steamy fan fiction about how good they assumed these berries tasted? Which is absolutely a little unhinged, but there IS some important context around this.
See, strawberries have a VERY short shelf life. Even today, most strawberries need to be refrigerated in transport, and are only good if eaten or frozen within 2 weeks of harvest at the VERY latest….and back in the dark, sad, bland ages of middle europe, they didn’t have regridgeation, trucks, or ANY of that….so if you didn’t live in an area where there happened to be a delicious patch of berries, you were just shit out of luck unless you could afford to get somewhere that did.
And while people were absolutely trying to grow them, the plants themselves were a bit tricky for people to pin down in areas they weren’t from- they were really finicky, didn't love transplant, and when grown from seed would often either not take OR would produce sad small fruits for a season or 2 and then completely stop, which meant that they couldn’t be mass produced or just grown at home.
That desperate berry lust lasted until the early 1700’s when a french botanist mixed the native north american strawberry with the native chilean strawberry to create the first variety of “garden strawberry” we see commercially grown today.
In herbalism, we often see strawberry being added into things to lend sweetness and a bit of asrtingiency and antibacterial properties. Often this plant was called on to cure issues in the mouth, with the leaves and roots used in teas, tooth powders, and sometimes even tinctures to help heal mouth sores and clean gums. This was effective due to the astringency and antimicrobial properties that helped to kill bacteria and remove plaque, but ALSO because strawberries are a decent source of vitamin c, which could help alleviate some of the underlying conditions that could have led to mouth problems in the first place.
Strawberries are also often used to treat and prevent heart disease,which harkens back to the belief that plants often resemble the things they help heal.
It’s believed that strawberries are good for the heart because they contain a relatively high amount of anthocyanins- known for giving them their red color, and helping to fight free radicals, increase uptake of insulin, and can help to lower triglycerides or fat in your blood and LDL cholesterol (the not good one) that can later limit your heart's ability to function properly.
Speaking of hearts, strawberries are also often used in magic to strengthen love and beauty spells, as well as in gifts left to goddesses of love, beauty, femininity, and protection. I even found a few instances where farmers were tying strawberries to the horns of their cattle as offerings to fairies, who they hoped would protect their cattle as they moved across fields- which is honestly just kind of an adorable mental image- just huge groups of fluffy highland cows with a sweet little bundle of berries and ribbon tied to their horns?? It’s giving may queen but in june.
Of course, outside of magic and medicine, strawberries are also wildly popular in everything from food and fragrance to home decor. So popular in fact that we have a TON of science around the chemical side of what the heck actually makes them SO GOOD- high praise from western societies that tend to show their love through a deep and sometimes almost invasive understanding of WHY. when I say we have a lot- there is a literal list on wikipedia of every compound in strawberries that actually makes them taste and smell the way the do, which was just mind boggling to me.
As far as fruit goes, I know I am not alone in strawberries being some of my favorites, and with an origin story rooted in sweetness through struggle, I really don’t see how they could NOT be your favorite fruit- they are a literal gift from the earth, and a reminder that life is meant to be savored. Next time you see one, I hope you give it a little kiss, and say thank you to the earth for doing you such a kindness.
That’s all I’ve got for this week, but I’ll be back next week with another plant for all of us to get excited about. See you then!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry
https://www.ekstasismagazine.com/blog/2023/a-secret-history-of-strawberries
https://www.northerncherokeenation.com/the-cherokee-legend-of-the-first-strawberry.html
https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/mufood/2016/05/19/strawberry-created-by-the-gods/
https://thepracticalherbalist.com/advanced-herbalism/strawberry-history-folklore-myth-and-magic/
https://www.servicespace.org/blog/view.php?id=21280
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/eat-blueberries-and-strawberries-three-times-per-week
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27172913/
https://gardenculturemagazine.com/wild-strawberries-medicinal-superfood/
