“Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” Dr. William Butler, 17th century English writer.
Butler referred to the strawberry, and I could not agree with him more. Now in season in the Roanoke region, they are the best of berries, the delicate, heart-shaped fruit symbolic of purity, passion and healing. Each year, I barely get my fill of fresh strawberries right from the patch before the local harvest is gone.
They’re here now, fragrant and enrobed in their crimson finery, simply popped into the mouth au natural, dipped in chocolate, or eaten peasant style, crushed and smeared onto a bagel or croissant with cream cheese.
English royalty, like their brethren across the Channel, developed a taste for the fruit.
“When I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there. I do beseech you to send for some of them,” the Duke of Gloucester asked the Bishop of Ely in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Richard III, based on events during Richard’s reign in the last 25 years of the 15th century. The Bishop grew strawberries with such success in his gardens at Holborn that the fact drew the attention of writers, whatever the symbolism of Shakespeare’s passage.
In his “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry,” written in 1557, Tusser recommended strawberry farming as an appropriate part of the employment of women. He wrote, “Wife, into the garden and set me a plot, with strawberry roots, the best to be got; such growing abroad among thorns in the wood, well chosen and picked, prove excellent good.”
Not only have strawberries delighted people for centuries, they have inspired art, beginning in the earliest years of the 15th century. The monks of western Europe used the wild strawberry in their illuminated manuscripts.
I especially love fresh strawberries baked in a sweet pie, or in a spinach salad with grilled chicken. Here’s an easy recipe for the pie:
Grammy’s Strawberry Pie
- 2 8-inch pie shells, baked
- 3 ½ quarts fresh strawberries
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 3 ounce package strawberry flavored Jello
In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and the cornstarch, making sure to blend in cornstarch thoroughly. Add boiling water and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mix and stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature.
Place strawberries in baked pie shells, with their points facing up. Pour cooled gelatin mixture over the strawberries and refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
About the Writer:
Rebecca Jackson is a veteran newspaper person/journalist based in Bedford County, VA. A native of California and an M.A. graduate of Arizona State University, she has a passion for pets (animals), good food/cooking, music, wine, horticulture, photography and travel.
