In the U.S. strawberries typically peak during April in Florida and Texas, May in the deep South, and in early June in middle sections and later June in the far North and Canada. Crops are ready at various times of the month depending on which part of the state you are located. In order to produce good local strawberries, producers depend on ideal spring weather conditions.
Strawberry Facts and Tips
Select plump, firm, fully red berries. The small berries are often most flavorful. Only the berry on the far right is completely ripe.
Most area that grow strawberries have a strawberry festival, at which you can taste all kinds of fresh strawberry foods, pies, jams, cakes – and most commonly, fresh strawberry shortcake. To find out where and when there is one near you, see this page for a list of strawberry festivals, sorted by state!
Strawberries measurements: 1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups and is about the same as 1 liter and weighs 1.25 lbs (or 600- 625 g). 1 quart is normally enough for 4 servings
One cup of strawberries contains only 43 calories.
Unripe berries will not ripen once picked.
U-pick strawberries are much healthier than store-bought. Consumer reports says store bought strawberries have so many pesticide and fungicide residues on they, that they don’t recommend you eat them!
U-pick strawberry farms typically sell berries by the pound. A quart equals 1 and 1/2 pounds of fresh berries.
It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to pick a quart, if the berries are reasonably plentiful
Strawberries were originally called strewberries because the fruit was “strewn” amongst the leaves of the plant.
The strawberry plant adapts to wide variety of soil conditions, but does not tolerate drought well, and the berries quickly rot if the weather is rainy. For this reason, the plants are usually grown on raised beds through plastic mulch!
Cultivation of strawberries began in Europe in the 1300’s, but the berry only became very popular in the early 1900’s in California.
Do the math and be careful not to over-purchase as strawberries quickly mold when left at room temperature, and only last a couple of days in the refrigerator.
You can easily freeze berries that you can not use right away – just wash, cut the hulls off and pop them into a ziplock bag, removing as much air as possible. Those vacuum food sealers REALLY do a good job of this! The berries will keep for many months frozen without air.
Want to grow your own strawberries? Here’s an article about how to: Strawberries are an Excellent Fruit for the Home Garden, HYG-1424-98!
See this page for many more fun and interesting strawberry facts, nutritional information and trivia
