Strawberries ‘naturally or not’
During the early summer months Strawberries reach their peak season and are plentiful in supply. Due to modern transportation, even with extended fruiting seasons, if they are not available from the farms locally, suppliers will have them flown in so that we can enjoy this amazing fruit year round.
Amazing, not only for its bright colour, sweet aroma and the fact that it is one fruit that most people like, but more so that the fruit as we know it today only came into existence at nurseries in France in the 18th Century when plants from Chile were crossed with a North American species to produce our modern hybrid strawberry of which there are now dozens of varieties.
Nutritionally while an excellent source of Vitamin C, high in fibre and containing useful amounts of folates, potassium and iron; they do not contain much else. Strawberries are low in calories yielding only about 40 calories for a cup of the fresh fruit, due to the high level of water that they contain. The strawberry seeds are a source of insoluble fibre which helps with digestion and keep the body ‘regular’, but they can also be an irritant if you suffer from an inflamed bowel. Pectin, a soluble fibre source is also found in strawberries.
These magnificent fruit together with a surprisingly few others such as raspberries and blackberries are among the few fruits that will not ripen upon exposure to ethylene. Ethylene, the gas produced by fruit to ripen naturally has been developed by the commercial world to enable green fruits to be easily transported then upon exposure to the gas to ripen quickly, thus reducing the amount of damaged fruit that is caused by handling of mature/ripened fruits. However strawberries will not ripen when exposed to the gas. It is for this reason, if you want ‘full flavoured’ strawberries, they need to be left on the plant until they are ripe and then carefully picked and transported for quick consumption – in today’s world, and expensive option. How many times have to been to the local supermarket and purchased lush red, plump strawberries only to find they have no flavour? This is because they are picked before they are fully ripe and no amount of nurturing will get them to ‘ripen’ further.
The growing season also has some impact on the aroma of a strawberry. If it is grown and picked in its traditional early summer season, you are more likely to get a more aromatic strawberry than one produced on an ‘extended season’ farm. It has been shown that the best strawberries need at least two hours per day at less than 15ºC to produce the best aroma and at least 17ºC for the rest of the time to ensure maximum flavour. If you are growing strawberries in mild subtropical climates you may well end up with a strawberry that looks great, but without the cool period each day they will not develop their full characteristic aroma.
Modern plant breeders also continue to provide us with even more varieties of strawberries that are more suited to our highly commercialized world of transportation. This means that more and more of our strawberries are firmer enabling ease of transportation, but this also means that they no longer have the ‘soft mushy texture’ that will give our taste buds as chance to experience an explosion of flavours when crushed by our tongue. Flavour in strawberries is highlighted by their unique aroma. This aroma is attributed to a number of plant chemicals, but mainly to furaneol and mesofurane. Furaneol on its own smells more of burnt sugar, and mesofurane more of sherry, but when combined in the right quantities, it is these two plant chemicals that will produce the characteristic results.
We as consumers seem to have become accepting of the hard, shiny red and tasteless offerings that are served up as ‘fresh strawberries’, and with limited opportunity to ‘pick-your’ own strawberries unless you live in Chiang Mai, and the climatic conditions of Bangkok not at all suited to this delicate fruit, if you truly want a ‘real’ strawberry then you may well be better recommended to wait until you go to Europe early in summer (June) to experience the ‘real’ thing.