Continuing my red theme, here are three photos of some wild strawberries (
fraises des bois, or "woodland strawberries" in French) that I found growing along one of our favorite walking paths yesterday afternoon. I took these pictures just before I ate the 'berries.
Wild strawberries grow all over France (except on the Mediterranean coast), other parts of Europe, and North America. They can be cultivated, but the so-called berries, sweet and tart on the tongue, are too fragile to be packaged and shipped easily.
Fraises des bois grow in several patches around La Renaudière, but I've never found them in sufficient quantities to do anything with them besides just pick and eat a few as I walk the area with Callie. Each berry is about the size of a large pea.
As the Wikipedia article in French says, wild strawberries «
se conservent difficilement et doivent être consommé[e]s rapidement. » They don't keep well and need to be consumed quickly. I can manage that.
Wild strawberries grow all over France (except on the Mediterranean coast), other parts of Europe, and North America. They can be cultivated, but the so-called berries, sweet and tart on the tongue, are too fragile to be packaged and shipped easily.
Fraises des bois grow in several patches around La Renaudière, but I've never found them in sufficient quantities to do anything with them besides just pick and eat a few as I walk the area with Callie. Each berry is about the size of a large pea.
As the Wikipedia article in French says, wild strawberries « se conservent difficilement et doivent être consommé[e]s rapidement. » They don't keep well and need to be consumed quickly. I can manage that.
Beautiful berries. Love the red theme. The poppies were splendid!
ReplyDeleteGinny, hi, hard to believe it's been a year already since you and the family visited. Congrats to Molly on her graduation.
ReplyDeleteWe find these berries in the southern Alps when we hike there in the summer. They are good!
ReplyDeleteLoving the poppies and the strawberries. And thanks for the pronounciation in yesterday's post.
ReplyDeleteI've got these growing under one of the sour cherries in the orchard and there is a big patch at the back of the stables at Chenonceau. Periodically I sample the fruit, but I remain mystified as to their reputation for deliciousness. I have never had one that wasn't cottonwoolly and / or very acidic.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
ReplyDeleteCould it be Potentilla indica the ones you're talking about?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry
I have those in Arlington, VA. They look exactly like strawberries, the fruit is cottony and have almost no taste. Nothing that I'm looking forward to.
The wild strawberries here are sweet, but we hardly ever get to them before the animals do. Same with the Mara des bois we planted. You are lucky to find some.
ReplyDeleteDon't you find that berries are tastiest when the sun has been on them for a while? We pick our garden berries just before I make the shortcake. We could eat nothing but strawberry shortcake for days!
How fortunate you are that, KNOWING that these little berry gems won't hold up, you really MUST eat them when you find them :)) No need for guilt! :))
ReplyDeleteCHM and Susan, the ones I pick and eat are sweet and tart and delicious. There just aren't very many of them at any one time. Par contre, there are a lot of cherries now, if it would just stop raining long enough for me to go out and pick some. The weeds under the trees are waist-high so I need waders.
ReplyDeletechm it's definitely wild strawberries Fragaria vesca that I've got.
ReplyDeleteKen you are lucky to have cherries - I resorted to buying some yesterday.
A news report on TV today said there are no apples in the Sarthe (north of here, south of Normandy) this year. We don't seem to have apples either. I didn't see the trees flower this spring. There are plums, however, on our neighbors' trees, but not so many on ours.
ReplyDeleteRain has just started pouring down again. It's supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow too.
They look very different from 'regular' strawberries.
ReplyDeleteOh, wild strawberries. Heaven!
ReplyDelete