The Best Berry

I'm going to dedicate my first real post to a food I've had a love affair with since I was a child: Strawberries. When I was a kid, my mom would buy a basket for the family and put them in the kitchen. She'd come back five minutes later to me essentially double fisting the strawberries, shoving them into my mouth like a kid who hadn't had fresh fruit in years. Honestly, even now, when the boyfriend and I bring a basket home, I find it all that I can do to stop myself from doing the same thing. Seriously, they're like nature's crack.

So, true to my food nerd self, I've found out a few fun facts about these delicious little morsels. Allow me to regale you with my learnings.

The primary species of strawberries sold around the world is the fragaria × ananassa, or the garden strawberry. It's a hybrid of the fragaria virginiana, from North America, and the fragaria chileonsis from Chile and Argentina. The garden strawberry basically couples the flavor of the North American variety and the size of the South American variety to produce a SUPER STRAWBERRY, THE LIKES OF WHICH THE WORLD HAS NEVER SEEN.

The U.S. is the top producer of the little berry, coming in at 1,148,530 tons in 2008. Next in line are Turkey, Mexico, Poland, and Egypt, all producing over 200,000 tons that year. At first glance, those countries all seem to have pretty different climates, but that just reveals one of the strawberry plant's primary strengths: it can grow nearly anywhere. Even a potted strawberry plant will produce fruit.

Now, the good part. I have made this strawberry muffin recipe from A Recipe A Day, and I really enjoyed it. I also really like using them in tarts, like this one from Epicurious. Honestly, though, I really just enjoy them sliced up with a little bit of sugar as a dessert. I'm a simple girl, and a good strawberry doesn't need to be in anything but my mouth.