In this blog we’ll show you the characteristics of strawberries (both the fruit and the plant), their main types of strawberries, properties, history, main exporters and importers, how they are grown and some products made from this fruit. Don’t miss it!
Table of Contents
What is strawberry and what are its characteristics?
| Scientific name | Fragaria |
| Common name | Strawberry |
| Place of origin | Europe |
| Habitat | Open forests, slightly exposed to the sun. |
| Distribution | Europe, North, Central and South America. |
Characteristics of the strawberry plant
This is a creeping plant of the Rosaceae family called the same way as its fruit (strawberry or Fragaria). It’s found in places like Spain, Turkey, the United States, Mexico, southern Chile, China, and Japan.
Its size doesn’t usually go beyond 50 cm with stems about 15 cm long. It grows from a core from where the stems grow outwards, similar to the way hair grows from the crown of the human head. And also the fact that it grows from the center downwards is similar, so it often appears almost touching the ground instead of growing upwards.
Its roots have a similar texture to the strands, which can reach lengths of 30 cm underground.
Its leaves are circular, grouped in threes at certain points on the stem, and its edges have a biting outline similar to a sharp-toothed animal.
Strawberries also have white flowers that protrude from the top of the plant along with the fruit, usually with 5 curved petals.
Description of the strawberry fruit
The strawberry fruit is red when ripe and green at the beginning of flowering. Just as its color changes once it is fully developed, so does its flavor, for it tends to be sour and/or bitter when starting to grow but becomes sweeter once it flowers.
Strawberries are triangular and have curved edges, or to be precise, a conical shape – although this may vary according to the crop.
On the skin are distributed small elongated seeds that tend to be yellow; these are found around the entire fruit, except in its leaves at the base, which are green and pointed and represent about a quarter of the size of the strawberry, being on average 2 to 3 centimeters long and 20 mm in diameter at the base.
Types of strawberries
Broadly speaking, there are eight types of strawberries, which are:
- Chilean strawberry
- Wild strawberry
- Musk strawberry
- Fragaria Viridis
- Oriental strawberry
- Senga Sengana
- Strasberry
- Pineberry
Today we’ll focus on the first five types mentioned, as they are the main ones. These are:
Chilean Strawberry
| Scientific name | Fragaria Chiloensis, Fresa virginiana x ananassa |
| Common name | Chilean strawberry, frutilla, wild strawberry, coastal strawberry, beach strawberry. |
| Place of origin | Chile |
| Habitat | Essentially temperate and rainy climates, but it adapts to a wide variety of climates. |
| Distribution | Mainly in Chile and the United States. |
This is a hybrid of strawberry Virginiana and pineapple strawberry. It marks its territory by expanding its stems throughout the soil, which are red wine red with small hairs on its surface. Unlike the traditional strawberry, the green color of these leaves is brighter, although they still form groups of three leaves that are separated throughout the crop.
In this case, the flowers can have up to 15 petals, which also varies according to the species. Its fruit besides being red can also be white or pink, its other parts are the same as mentioned above in the overall description of the strawberry.
It’s distributed in places like the coast of Chile and Patagonia, from Maule to Aysen, which are characteristic regions of this country along with the archipelago of Chiloe and the coast of the western United States and Hawaii.
Wild strawberry
| Scientific name | Fragaria vesca |
| Common name | Wild strawberry, woodland strawberry, Alpine strawberry, Carpathian strawberry or European strawberry. |
| Place of origin | Chile |
| Habitat | (see global data sheet of the strawberry) |
| Distribution | Chile, Europe, and Northern Asia. |
This strawberry doesn’t belong to the hybrid group of Fragaria x ananassa, it’s a totally different genus. It has been the favorite on the European continent for centuries. Since the 14th century, its cultivation was implemented and it only mutated when it was crossed with North American species, whose fruits were larger.
Its flavor is more intense than the other genera and this is why many gourmet food establishments prefer it.
It usually grows in forests with few trees and, therefore, receives a good amount of light. In this case, the leaves grouped in sets of three arise from the crown mentioned in previous paragraphs. This plant has a great variety of stems that measure approximately 20 cm and have no flowers.
You can find it in areas such as southern Chile, throughout the European continent, and in cities such as Novosibirsk in the Asian part of Russia, which represents mainly North Asia.
Musk strawberry
| Scientific name | Fragaria moschata |
| Common name | Musk strawberry or hautbois strawberry[ |
| Place of origin | Europe |
| Habitat | Forest borders of central Europe. Considerably humid places that are sheltered due to their intolerance to climatic changes. |
| Distribution | Central Europe, Scandinavia and Italy. |
The term moschata comes from the French hautbois which is translated in English as hautboy and in Spanish refers to the musical instrument oboe.
In terms of its physical profile, it’s smaller than other species and has a dark purple color. Like the wild strawberry, this one is also preferred daily by high-class culinary establishments thanks to its fine flavor and exquisite aroma; its flavor is often described as a mix between raspberry, pineapple and strawberry.
It’s found in countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Hungary that are part of Central Europe, in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in the Scandinavian region, and all over Italy.
Fragaria Viridis (creamy strawberry)
| Scientific name | Fragaria Viridis |
| Common name | Fragaria Viridis |
| Place of origin | Europe and Central Asia |
| Habitat | Forest borders of central Europe. Considerably humid places that are sheltered due to their intolerance to climatic changes. |
| Distribution | Central Europe, Scandinavia, and Italy. |
This fruit is quite small but has a pleasant flavor that is as tart and refreshing as lemonade, yet rather light in aroma compared to the other strawberries.
Its ripening process is different in the sense that they are often already ripe, although they appear to be green.
Oriental strawberry
| Scientific name | Fragaria Orientalis |
| Common name | Oriental strawberry |
| Place of origin | Asia and East Siberia. |
| Habitat | Forests: in the shade of trees, meadows, mountain tops and significantly alkaline soils |
| Distribution | East Asia. |
Its origin dates back to China in provinces such as Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Shanxi, as well as in the eastern part of Russia and Siberia.
It tends to be about 20 cm tall and has leaves that are dark green outside and lighter underneath. It also has a number of tiny hairs along the plant and white flowers with 5 petals.
Its fruit is red colored mixed with purple when it reaches maturity and is covered with 0.5 mm sized dots. Its flowering season is from May to July and the growing season is from July to September.
This crop can unfortunately be food for some mites.
It typically blooms in highly alkaline soils in China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan.
Properties and benefits of strawberries
Strawberry nutritional profile
We invite you to see the strawberry nutritional table for a one-cup serving, taken from Fatsecret.
| Energy | 204 Kj, 49 calories |
| Protein | 1,02g |
| Carbohydrates | 11,67g |
| Fiber | 3g |
| Sugar | 7,08g |
| Fat | 0,46g |
| Saturated fat | 0,023g |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 0,0236g |
| Monounsaturated fat | 0,065g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg |
| Sodium | 2mg |
| Potassium | 233mg |
Strawberry properties
High vitamin C content
Its high percentage of this vitamin, together with its anthocyanins, make it a fruit that acts positively on the immune system by stimulating the production of white blood cells that defend your body from diseases.
Healing
It has vitamin C that, besides increasing your defenses, promotes the creation and regeneration of tissues such as skin, ligaments, tendons, and ducts of the circulatory system, so it can be a good option to increase the speed at which wounds heal and begin to heal until the skin returns to its original state.
A sweet alternative for diabetics
Strawberries have a healthy sugar called xylitol, also called birch sugar. This compound is currently being used as a sweetener to replace the traditional sugar we have used for years but it is not so recommended.
That’s why diabetic people can replace conventional candies with a few strawberries that also taste good, with the difference that these do have glucose that is good for the body and not harmful components.
Essential for mothers-to-be
In pregnancy, folic acid is of great importance because an adequate level of it can prevent complex malformations in the fetus such as anencephaly, produced when the baby is born without parts of the brain, and spina bifida, which is a disease that affects the spinal column.
Fortunately, a fairly affordable option to acquire this acid is the strawberry, so it is highly recommended to eat them for pregnant women.
Rejuvenates the skin
If you feel that your facial skin is worn out by dark circles or bags, we want to tell you that strawberries can be of great help thanks to their anti-inflammatory properties that will make your skin go back to its original state. Just put a few slices of strawberry on the affected skin and leave it for about 10 minutes, if you do this regularly and get enough sleep, the dark circles and bags should go away soon.
History and origin of the strawberry
There are a great variety of historical narratives related to the strawberry that became known approximately in the 1500s. For example, in Roman mythology, it is said that this fruit is produced when the tears of the goddess Venus touched the ground when she mourned the death of Adonis.
On the other hand, in human history, there are also several theories about the origin of the strawberry. One of these is that this fruit arrived during the Spaniard settlement process in Virginia, the United States around the year 1620.
With the discovery of the Virginian strawberry, new species were introduced by making fusions between them, but these, although large, reduced their flavor to a minimum, so they began to be mixed with Chilean strawberries. The incorporation of the Chilean strawberry helped to recover the quality of these fruits since it was possible to reestablish their flavor and conserve their large volume.
Fact: It seems that Chilean strawberries are not actually native to Chile, but arrived in the country as a result of the migration of birds from North America that carried this fruit with them.
Its scientific name Fragaria comes from the Latin Fraga meaning fragrant. Its common name “strawberry” comes from the French fraise.
Global strawberry industry
Know the main producers and importers of strawberries in the world.
Top 5 strawberry producers in the world
According to Atlas Big, 9’125,913 tons of strawberries are currently produced annually around the world. And the countries that produce the most are China and the United States, which account for a share of 57% of strawberry production in the world.
Next, we’ll see the 5 countries with the highest amount of tons produced and with the highest exportation of strawberries:
| Country | Tons of strawberries produced per year (approx.) |
| China | 3’801.865 |
| United States | 1’420.570 |
| Mexico | 861.000 |
| Egypt | 464.958 |
| Turkey | 415.150 |
China
It’s well known that for years China has led strawberry production worldwide; its level of operation in this sector is so large that it occupies about 79% of the entire country. In 2009, 84,300 hectares were dedicated to the cultivation of this fruit.
The Chinese population indicated then that production per year could reach 1.96 million tons, but we see in the previous table that this production has increased by 94%!
This country represents 50% of the world’s strawberry crop with an average of 85% to 90% of fresh strawberries destined for the market, the other 15 to 10% that is left over is allocated to processed or industrial strawberries.
The data regarding the varieties of strawberries grown in China is not very precise, but it is known that they have more than 170, 33 of Chinese origin. The remaining 137 species are mixed with Japanese strawberries such as Toyonaka, Sachinoka, Akihime, Tochiotome and Benihoppe, the first being the most relevant.
Chinese strawberry cultivation occurs mainly in three regions: Hebei, Shandong and Liaoning, as seen below.
| Province | Hectares | Tons | Cultivated surface in China |
| Hebei | 15.000 | 493.000 | 18,4% |
| Shandong | 12.700 | 398.100 | 15,1% |
| Liaoning | 11.100 | 278.100 | 13,2% |
United States
Strawberries are produced in every state of this country. Besides the high amount of tons of strawberries produced annually, the United States also has a production of 2,728 kg per person and an area of 141,498 hectares with a yield of 26,868 kg per hectare and 6.51 kilograms per square meter, the latter figure was collected in 2018 by the FAO.
The state that produces the most strawberries in this country is California with 75% which incredibly means a billion pounds for each year or 21 tons annually. Each year 23,000 hectares are used for strawberry cultivation in this region.
Mexico
According to Statista, this country reached 861,000 tons per meter of strawberry cultivation by 2019, higher by 31.8% over the previous year (653.64 tons).
The percentage of strawberries destined for exports is 52.21% of what is produced nationally, making it one of the foods that most support the Mexican economy. Mexico is the third largest producer in the world with a total of 14.83% of the world’s strawberry exports.
Now we’ll show you a graphic of Mexican strawberry production in the last 10 years until 2019, in which there is evidence of an increase over time.
Egypt
The culture of fruit in this African country has made continuous progress over time. For example, in 2020, its production volume reached close to 500,000 tons as we can see in the chart of the top 5 strawberry producers in the world. The land has increased to 16,187 hectares, so they expect to increase their quantity of strawberries by 30,000 tons more.
On the other hand, Egypt not only exports fresh strawberries but also frozen strawberries and they had a goal for 2021 to achieve 200,000 tons of this product. Due to this high level of cultivation, 50 countries have opened their doors to Egyptian strawberries, mainly Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Russia, Netherlands, Ireland, France, Malaysia, and Oman.
Turkey
Ordu is the Black Sea city with the highest level of Turkish strawberry production. It started producing 96 tons in 2013, but in 2018 it increased to 900 tons more than in previous years, being its highest increase to date. This level of production is obtained from 36.1 hectares of cultivation.
This is exactly why the Turks see strawberry as an alternative livelihood in addition to hazelnut which is another of the most important fruits for the country in the trade sector.
Top strawberry importers in the world
According to Opportimes, the 9 countries with the highest strawberry import value in the world are:
- Canada: with imports totaling a value of 354 million dollars.
- Germany with an investment of 346 million dollars.
- The United Kingdom with 238 million dollars.
- France with 164 million dollars.
- The Netherlands with 121 million dollars.
- Belgium with 105 million dollars.
- Italy with US$82 million.
- Russia with $71 million.
- Hong Kong with 65 million dollars.
How is strawberry cultivation?
To grow this fruit there are a series of requirements that must be taken into account. Below, we’ll show you what they are:
Soil
For strawberries, sandy soil that is not prone to accumulate puddles and has a neutral pH is ideal; it has to be more than 80 cm deep.
Light soil will make it easy for the roots to feed on sun heat and air which will boost fruit production more quickly. Otherwise, dense soils don’t allow sunlight to reach deep inside the plant and will delay the fruit harvest.
The soil must be flat or with no significant protrusions and have an organic matter index between 3 and 7% to be fertile.
The use of compounds such as humus is suggested to retain humidity and avoid fungus problems in the roots; it can also keep the soil fertility stable.
Climate
The strawberry adapts to a wide range of climates, but it will be more efficient in warm climates, without wind, frost or rain, and without sweltering heat from September to March.
In areas such as the coast, as there is heat in the required time, the harvest can be anticipated, which favors the resources in the market when the demand for fruit is scarce.
An important condition for proper growth of stems, leaves, flowers and fruit is the amount of light received during the day, called photoperiod. It is essential that this lasts 12 to 14 hours.
While it is true that they need heat and sunlight to flower, they also need periods of cold that boost the development of the plant and the level of fruiting. These periods are recommended to have temperatures of approximately 7°C and about 380 to 700 hours that accumulate in about three months. However, the soil temperature should be around 12°C so that the roots can absorb nutrients from the soil.
Method for planting strawberries
- First of all, the land is prepared by removing all plant debris, roots, or dirt and digging holes in the ground to place the seeds or stems depending on the preference of each person; these holes should measure about 50 cm underground. And then the organic matter is placed in the soil.
- Sometimes, if necessary, the soil is disinfected to prevent the propagation of diseases in the crop or even in humans. The most used technique is called solarization which consists of putting a layer of plastic over the soil so that when it comes into contact with the sun, it produces the necessary heat to eliminate water residues that cause the plant to develop fungi or parasites. This plastic must have holes that facilitate the entry of air for the strawberry.
This method is not only used for this purpose but is also important to prevent weeds from growing or evaporating all the water and drying out the plant, as well as preventing the fruit from coming into contact with the soil and favoring the process of soil formation.
- Especially when planting these crops, the requirements of cold hours, sunlight, and temperature degrees mentioned above must be taken into account, so that the plant is strong and gives a quantity of fruit in good condition.
- About 45 days after planting the strawberry, it’s indispensable to place tunnels in the shape of a camping tent but much larger to protect it from strong winds or rains, thus complementing the support it receives from the solarization system.
- The plants must be watered frequently for the roots and leaves to settle down firmly. The best is to keep a safe distance between each plant (about 40 cm) so that the irrigation tools can do their job well without over-wetting the strawberry.
The depth of the soil should be so minimal that the beginning of the root can be seen without exposing it completely.
The fertilization must be managed carefully, as either too much or too little will affect the crop and the quality of the strawberry.
Strawberry harvesting
Strawberry is harvested by hand, but with great care when the strawberry has the reddish color characteristic of the stage of maturity.
Once harvested, the strawberries are picked and packed on the same day. When choosing strawberries, it’s important to take into account how ripe they are, their size, and that they have no damaged parts.
Postharvest strawberries
After being packed, they are placed in cold storage chambers with temperatures of 2 or 5°C to guarantee their conservation for 7 to 10 days, although if a balance with the necessary CO2 is achieved, they can be conserved for up to one month.
Strawberry-based products
This food is usually used as a dessert in its original form by adding sugar or whipped cream. It’s also used in bakeries to make cakes, puddings or muffins and in the candy industry for the elaboration of various flavored candies; these are just some of the few products made from strawberries. Do you want to know more products? We have them here! Just keep reading.
Handmade products made from strawberries
Homemade strawberry jam
This jam is very easy to make, not only for its preparation process but also because the products you need are easy to get. It consists of strawberries, water, and brown sugar and once you mix these ingredients for a certain time over low heat, you’ll have a delicious homemade jam without conservatives.
Strawberry dices
We’re not talking about the typical dice you use to play Parcheesi or other board games. In this case we’re referring to small cubes of strawberries frozen at temperatures of -40°C so that they retain all their flavor, color, and nutrients that they brought with them when freshly harvested.
These cubes can be used as an accompaniment to cereals and salads or eaten as a snack.
Strawberry mint Smoothie
If you are looking for a delicious and healthy alternative for your breakfasts or snacks that will give you energy, you may want to make a strawberry milkshake with mint to add a refreshing touch. You can also use oat flakes to make them thicker and have a higher amount of fiber, which will be good for your intestine.
Strawberry pie
We can add more nutritious ingredients to this type of pie, such as chickpea flour to replace the usual wheat flour, which is full of sugar and alters your glucose levels. As for the strawberries, you can prepare them in the same way as we explained to create the jam and put it on top or inside the cake and it will give it a unique flavor.
Industrial products made from strawberries
Dehydrated strawberry
To get the strawberry in this state it is subjected to a process to dry the fruit until the water content is considerably reduced, which reduces its thickness.
An advantage of the dehydrated strawberry is that, unlike the traditional strawberry, it has a much longer expiration date, so you can keep it much longer.
These strawberries can be used in various snacks either as a powder to add to smoothies or in slices to accompany and decorate as they are:
- Desserts
- Yogurts
- Cereals
- Cocktails
You can also use them as a natural sweetener for herbal teas or eat them individually as a snack. Alternatively, you can eat these strawberries by applying chocolate on top of them and you’ll have a delicious treat as a result.
Homemade strawberry liqueur
Using a bottle of pisco or vodka and about a kilo of strawberries and some natural sweetener you can create a strawberry cocktail. You can also add ingredients such as cinnamon sticks, mint leaves, and a few drops of aniseed to give it a special aroma.
In conclusion, we realize that strawberry is a fruit with many more uses, properties, and products than we are used to seeing. It’s so interesting that it gives a lot to talk about, but the most important thing is its unique and incomparable flavor and the way it benefits your body. Wouldn’t you like to eat one right now?