Strawberries’ citrusy taste with a blend of sweetness is a versatile addition to different dishes, such as salad and dessert. Strawberries, as many people believe, are berries because they have the word “berries” in them. Well, it is quite false. They are in fact not berries. What actually are strawberries if they are not “berries?”
The name “strawberry” may have derived from “strewn berry” as these fruits were scattered across the ground as they grew. It could have possibly been derived from English youth gathering wild strawberries and selling them to the public impaled on grass straws. Strawberries, botanically speaking, aren’t true berries. So, what makes a berry a berry?
A berry has three distinct layers: the exocarp (skin), mesocarp (middle) and endocarp (innermost part). According to Judy Jernstedt, a professor of plant sciences at the University of California, Davis, for a fruit to be classified as a berry, it must grow from a flower with only one ovary and have more than two seeds. “Some plants, such as blueberries, have flowers that only have one ovary,” the Live Science noted. As a result, she claims, the blueberry is a true berry. Tomatoes, peppers, cranberries, eggplants, and kiwis all come from a single ovary flower allowing them to be technically classified as berries. And surprisingly, bananas are berries as well!
Botanists refer to strawberries as “false fruits,” or pseudocarps. A strawberry is a multiple fruit made up of many tiny individual fruits inlaid in a fleshy receptacle. They are considered aggregate fruits because they are produced by a flower with more than one ovary. The specks with brownish or whitish colors oftentimes misidentified as seeds are the real fruits, known as achenes, and each one contains a small seed.
Categorizing berries “is kind of chaotic,” Jernstedt said. “And the scientists feel that way too. There are always attempts to impose some order on fruit classification. But this has been going on for a couple of centuries, so don’t hold your breath that it’s going to be solved soon.” Classifying nature’s numerous fruits can be difficult since they evolve without regard for how scientists would perceive them.
Strawberries are one of the most beloved fruits, whether eaten fresh sliced or cooked. They are perfect for the home garden because they don’t take up too much space and often generate a good yield. They are rich in vitamin C, manganese, folate (vitamin B9), and potassium, and they also include small trace levels of several additional vitamins and minerals. Strawberries are beneficial for your health and provide color and flavor to your dishes, but don’t confuse them with berries!
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