Right now distinctive little white flowers that will later become miniature, juicy red strawberries can be spotted on the edges of woodland, scrubland and along our old railway line. There are not actually the ancestor of the commercial strawberries we will all be buying in the summer, but the wild strawberry does have an excellent flavour. With long, rooting runners, it spreads quickly and low to the ground. Evidence from archaeological excavations suggests that wild strawberries have been consumed by humans since the Stone Age. During the medieval period, it was common for pregnant women to avoid eating or touching raw, or cooked wild strawberries due to the superstition that their babies would be born with strawberry shaped birthmarks.
By River Six Photo by Pixabay
