Organic Wild Strawberry Reine des Vallées - Fragaria vesca

The Organic Fragaria vesca Reine des Valleés is an alpine strawberry variety. Known as the Four Seasons, it produces from May or June until November. Its small fruits are bright red, elongated, and highly fragrant. The wild strawberry can be enjoyed as is, as a pastry decoration, or as a dessert ingredient. This variety does not produce runners and is ideal for gardens, borders, or pots. Planting is best done in autumn for a harvest from June to October.

Strawberries can be consumed in multiple ways: they can be eaten fresh, with sugar, cream, or sliced thinly and dried before being added to muesli or yogurt. If you have a bountiful harvest, consider making jams, sauces, pies, ice creams, or sorbets. You can also freeze strawberries.

There are 3 categories of varieties:

- Alpine strawberries or Four Seasons varieties, such as the Reine des Valleés variety, producing small fruits from May-June to October

- Large-fruited non-perpetual varieties, blooming once a year in spring, producing very large fruits around June

- Large-fruited perpetual varieties, blooming twice a year or continuously, producing large fruits from June to October

The wild strawberry, present during Roman times and the medieval period, was crossed in the 18th century with a species brought from Chile, resulting in different large-fruited varieties through successive selections.

The Strawberry is a hardy perennial belonging to the Rosaceae family. This variety has a compact habit, with evergreen trifoliate, ovate, and toothed leaves. It produces small white flowers with a golden centre that transform into large red fruits. Botanically speaking, strawberries are considered pseudocarps, with the achenes (seeds) visible on the surface of the epidermis.

Pick the fruits as they ripen, every 2 or 3 days, ideally in the morning. Strawberries are delicate, so pick them with their peduncle 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. Strawberries are rich in vitamins and minerals. They can cause reactions in some individuals, as they stimulate the release of histamine in the body.