Strawberries are quintessentially English. Or so you’d think. But actually they’re not. Although there are indigenous European strawberries the ones we eat are hybrids derived from a species from New England and another from Chile introduced surreptitiously into France in the early 18thc. This species didn’t really reach Britain until the mid-18thc and really didn’t become common in gardens until the 19th. 
Why? Because at first they didn’t fruit. Why not? Because no-one realised that strawberries had sex – let me rephrase that – that most strawberry plants were either male or female. But once they did that’s when British gardeners and nurserymen took over and led the world in developing better and better domestic and commercial – hermaphrodite – varieties.
But strawberries have always had more than just food appeal. In the Middle Ages they were one of the more revered symbols of the Virgin Mary but they also had another more erotic and voluptuous side to them as well.
As a result although this post started out as a ‘normal’ piece of horticultural history I got diverted along the way with other strawberry-related stuff so its ended up becoming two posts instead!
So read on to find out more about the early history and imagery of our favourite fruit…
detail from Histoires de Troyes Ms Francais 59, fol. 153,c1470, Biblioteque National de France
The Garden History Blog 
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