The strawberry, or Fragaria ( Nat. Ord. Rosacee), while
in its wild state not perhaps so lavishly generous with its
riches as is the blackberry over both southern and north-
ern latitudes, yet, speaking broadly, grows from the Arctic
to the Antarctic zones; the mountains of Switzerland and
even the Himalayas not too high or chill but that it may
be found nestling close to Mother Earth, giving out
beauty and charm in unexpected spots. It was, undoubt-
edly, this shy, rich sweetness—so free from tearing thorns—
which stamped from the first with indelible favouritism
the wild crimson berry, and its being found so amenable to
cultivation, (therefore making its season long, from the
width of belt from which it may be shipped,) gave it con-
tinued first rank in favour.
136
A CLUSTER OF BERRIES 137
Its generic name of Fragaria was given it by the old
Romans because of its inviting perfume. Its second
baptismal name of ‘‘ straw,” by which we of to-day designate
it, had also ancient origin of which, however, two ex-
planations are given, one tradition asserting that it came
from the Anglo-Saxon “‘strae,”’ meaning to stray (because
of the vine’s wandering habits), and from which we derive
directly our English verb ‘‘stray.’’ But the name is
also said to have come from the old English custom of placing
straw under the plants to mulch or to prevent the fruit
from rotting.
It is not everyone who can eat strawberries, unfortunately,
as their decided and peculiar form of acids does not agree
with everyone, but these people are exceptions and should
know that the addition of a little Cayenne pepper will not
unpleasantly detract from the fruit and will very often
prevent difficulties in the digesting of them. They con-
tain such proportion of citric and malic acids and salts of
lime that in general they are considered excellent for those
of gouty or bilious temperament and even when acids are
supposedly contra-indicated they prove acceptable to the
system if taken with a small quantity of bicarbonate of
potash (see Note 1: Preface). Holbrook states that
the use of this berry cured Wilson, the ornithologist, of
chronic malarial fever after the doctors had failed. An-
other celebrated cure, handed down among strawberry
devotees, was that of the botanist Linnzus from gout, and
patients of lesser note have been entirely relieved of liver
troubles and maladies associated with the respiratory
organs, particularly the lungs. One Swiss physician re-
ported as restricting patients with serious pulmonary
diseases to an almost exclusive diet of strawberries.
Wild strawberries are more readily digestible than al-
most any berry known and the red drops, like heart’s
138 FRUIT RECIPES
blood, seem to be congealed sunshine with all tne therapeutic
value of the sun concentrated in them. It seems a pity that
they are comparatively rare and not usually to be bought
in open market, although if they were to be had at every
corner grocery most of their healing agency would have
departed. Only by gathering them in their native haunts
may all this value be given and received.
THE BLACKBERRY
Fruit recipes
1907Page 58
Presented as published in 1907. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The strawberry, or Fragaria ( Nat. Ord. Rosacee), while in its wild state not perhaps so lavishly generous with its riches as is the blackberry over both southern and northern latitudes, yet, speaking broadly, grows from the Arctic to the Antarctic zones; the mountains of Switzerland and even the Himalayas not too high or chill but that it may be found nestling close to Mother Earth, giving out beauty and charm in unexpected spots. It was, undoubtedly, this shy, rich sweetness—so free from tearing thorns— which stamped from the first with indelible favouritism the wild crimson berry, and its being found so amenable to cultivation, (therefore making its season long, from the width of belt from which it may be shipped,) gave it continued first rank in favour.
Its generic name of Fragaria was given it by the old Romans because of its inviting perfume. Its second baptismal name of ‘‘ straw,” by which we of to-day designate it, had also ancient origin of which, however, two explanations are given, one tradition asserting that it came from the Anglo-Saxon “‘strae,”’ meaning to stray (because of the vine’s wandering habits), and from which we derive directly our English verb ‘‘stray.’’ But the name is also said to have come from the old English custom of placing straw under the plants to mulch or to prevent the fruit from rotting.
It is not everyone who can eat strawberries, unfortunately, as their decided and peculiar form of acids does not agree with everyone, but these people are exceptions and should know that the addition of a little Cayenne pepper will not unpleasantly detract from the fruit and will very often prevent difficulties in the digesting of them. They contain such proportion of citric and malic acids and salts of lime that in general they are considered excellent for those of gouty or bilious temperament and even when acids are supposedly contra-indicated they prove acceptable to the system if taken with a small quantity of bicarbonate of potash (see Note 1: Preface). Holbrook states that the use of this berry cured Wilson, the ornithologist, of chronic malarial fever after the doctors had failed. Another celebrated cure, handed down among strawberry devotees, was that of the botanist Linnzus from gout, and patients of lesser note have been entirely relieved of liver troubles and maladies associated with the respiratory organs, particularly the lungs. One Swiss physician reported as restricting patients with serious pulmonary diseases to an almost exclusive diet of strawberries.
Wild strawberries are more readily digestible than almost any berry known and the red drops, like heart’s
blood, seem to be congealed sunshine with all the therapeutic value of the sun concentrated in them. It seems a pity that they are comparatively rare and not usually to be bought in open market, although if they were to be had at every corner grocery most of their healing agency would have departed. Only by gathering them in their native haunts may all this value be given and received.
THE BLACKBERRY