Fragaria Strawberry Ice

The 'Strawberry Ice' perpetual strawberry is a hybrid variety that is both aesthetic and delicious. With its extended flowering period and beautiful bright pink flowers, this plant adds a touch of charm to your garden, while its delicious white fruits offer tasty harvests from May until the first frost. This innovative cultivar stands out for its productivity, robustness, and disease resistance. Ideally suited for pot or hanging basket cultivation, it forms dense clumps with long trailing stems, offering abundant flowers and fruits from spring to autumn. On balconies, this strawberry brings a touch of cheerfulness. In the kitchen, it lends itself to delicious preparations: whether eaten as is, blended into a sauce, or cooked in a pie, its fruity and sweet flavours will delight the taste buds.

The garden strawberry, also known by its scientific name Fragaria x ananassa, is a perennial plant with broad, evergreen foliage that forms rosettes and belongs to the Rosaceae family. Native to Europe, it results from a chance of cross-breeding between North American and Chilean species. Highly prized in gardens and for commercial production, these strawberries offer deliciously sweet fruits.
'Strawberry Ice' PBR is a newly released variety in 2024. This hybrid variety is appealing with its compact growth, pink flowers, and highly fragrant large white fruits. This plant forms an attractive clump that can reach a height of 30 cm and spread to 50 cm in width. Its evergreen, trifoliate, and finely toothed leaves form rosettes of lush dark green. The generous and extended flowering begins in April or May, depending on the region, and continues until the end of summer, with dark pink flowers surrounding a golden heart. Each flower transforms into a large conical fruit, offering firm and juicy flesh reminiscent of the characteristic aroma of strawberries, with a sweet and fruity flavour. The harvest extends from May until the first frost, with each mature plant capable of producing up to 1 kg of fruits. Botanically, strawberries are pseudocarps, with the true fruits being the achenes (seeds) visible on the surface of the epidermis.

In the kitchen, strawberries can be consumed in multiple ways. They can be eaten fresh, with sugar, cream, or sliced thinly and dried before being incorporated into muesli or yogurt. They also work well in sauces, jams, pies, ice creams, sorbets...

Strawberries are rich in vitamins B8 and B9, C and E, and provitamin A. They are considered remineralising and purifying. However, they can cause urticaria in some people, as they stimulate the release of histamine in the body.

Harvesting: Pick the fruits as they ripen every 2 or 3 days, ideally in the morning. Strawberries are delicate, so pick them with their stalks by pinching the stem 1 to 2 cm above it. The texture of the fruit is a good indicator of its ripeness. It should be firm and slightly soft to the touch.

Storage: Ideally, strawberries should be consumed soon after harvesting to enjoy their flavour fully. Refrigeration is possible but may alter the taste qualities of the fruits. Strawberries can also be dried or frozen. If you have a bountiful harvest, consider making jams, sauces, ice creams, or sorbets.

Gardener's tip: Strawberry plants are good companions for garlic, beans, lettuce, onions, leeks, thyme, and spinach. However, they do not appreciate the company of cabbage and other brassicas.