In honor of the current strawberry season, we had our orchard interns give us their ten favorite strawberry facts! Keep reading to see if you’ll learn something new about this sweet fruit.
- Strawberries are grown in every U.S. State.
- Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring. (They are currently in season now!)
- The Latin name for strawberries is Fragaria x Ananassa.
- Our strawberries here at Kimmel are June-bearing. This is the only variety that can handle our cold winters.
- According to the USDA, Americans consume 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries every year.
- The inflorescence type, or how the flowers are arranged on the stem, is the Cyme type.
- Strawberries are ground cover plants which means they spread and grow through “runners” or above-ground stems.
- Strawberries are not actually berries but are technically aggregate fruit made of many small fruits. Each seed on the outside of a strawberry is an individual fruit called achene.
- Strawberries are in the rose family, the same family as our cherries.
- Strawberries are one of the few fruits where every stage of the life cycle can be seen at the same time.
Did you learn a little, or are you a strawberry master? Either way, we all know that fresh, homegrown strawberries are delicious!