What’s small, red, juicy, and Delicious?

Strawberries!

Strawberries are a very healthy food to include in your diet.

One serving of strawberries - about 8 strawberries - is an excellent source of vitamin C. In fact, a serving of strawberries provides more vitamin C than an orange.

Strawberries are also an excellent source for fiber and potassium:

Fiber is considered by the American Heart Association to be important for heart health. Epidemiological studies report that people who eat higher amounts of total fiber have a lower risk of heart disease.

Potassium is an important nutrient to balance electrolytes, aid muscle contractions, and maintain a healthy blood pressure.

Antioxidants (including vitamin C) ward off chronic diseases and promote optimum health. Research shows that the antioxidants in strawberries are efficiently absorbed within one hour after being eaten. Once absorbed, antioxidants fight free radical compounds that can cause chronic illnesses.

In a recent study, strawberries ranked second among the top ten fruits in antioxidant capacity (TAC), which is one reason why they may help prevent cancer and heart disease.

Folate may prevent some types of birth defects. It also reduces serum levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that may be an independent risk factor in heart disease. Both of these are also present in Strawberries.

Some interesting folklore and history about strawberries?

• "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did." (Dr. William Butler, 17th Century English Writer) Dr. Butler is referring to the strawberry. Strawberries are the best of the berries. The delicate heart-shaped berry has always connoted purity, passion and healing. It has been used in stories, literature and paintings through the ages.
• In Othello, Shakespeare decorated Desdemonda's handkerchief with symbolic strawberries.
• Madame Tallien, a prominent figure at the court of the Emperor Napoleon, was famous for bathing in the juice of fresh strawberries. She used 22 pounds per basin. Needless to say, she did not bathe daily.
• In parts of Bavaria, country denizens still practice the annual rite each spring of tying small baskets of wild strawberries to the horns of their cattle as an offering to elves. They believe that the elves, which are passionately fond of strawberries, will help to produce healthy calves and abundance of milk in return.
• The American Indians were already consuming strawberries when the Colonists arrived. The crushed berries were mixed with cornmeal and baked into strawberry bread. After trying this bread, Colonists developed their own version of the recipe and Strawberry Shortcake was created.
• In Greek and Roman times, the strawberry was a wild plant.
• The English "strawberry" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "streoberie" not spelled in the modern fashion until 1538.
• The first documented botanical illustration of a strawberry plant appeared as a figure in Herbaries in 1454.
• In 1780, the first strawberry hybrid "Hudson" was developed in the United States.
• Legend has it that if you break a double strawberry in half and share it with a member of the opposite sex, you will fall in love with each other.
• The strawberry was a symbol for Venus, the Goddess of Love, because of its heart shapes and red color.
• Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII had a strawberry shaped birthmark on her neck, which some claimed proved she was a witch.
• To symbolize perfection and righteousness, medieval stone masons carved strawberry designs on altars and around the tops of pillars in churches and cathedrals.
• The wide distribution of wild strawberries is largely from seeds sown by birds. It seems that when birds eat the wild berries the seeds pass through them intact and in reasonably good condition. The germinating seeds respond to light rather than moisture and therefore need no covering of earth to start growing.

Medicinal Uses

• The strawberry, a member of the rose family, is unique in that it is the only fruit with seeds on the outside rather than the inside. Many medicinal uses were claimed for the wild strawberry, its leaves and root.
• The ancient Romans believed that the berries alleviated symptoms of melancholy, fainting, all inflammations, fevers, throat infections, kidney stones, halitosis, attacks of gout, and diseases of the blood, liver and spleen. Source: University of Illinois

I’m sure I don’t have to provide any recipes for strawberries. In fact, IMHO, the best way to eat them is just plain.

I love a bowl of strawberries as an afternoon snack, because,

After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!

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