Strawberry Cijosée - Fragaria ananassa

The Cijosée Organic strawberry is a perpetual variety that produces medium-sized, conical fruits from June to October, they have a good taste and can be stored fairly well after harvest. These are very bright red, shiny strawberries with fine, juicy and tart flesh. It is also a particularly hardy variety, to -15°C (5°F), well adapted to mountain gardens. The Cijosée strawberries grow above the foliage, which makes harvesting easier; the plant easily produces runners, which is very useful for expanding a strawberry patch. It is resistant to Verticillium and has intermediate resistance to Phytophthora, Anthracnose and Powdery Mildew.

Plants from Organic Agriculture.

Strawberries can be enjoyed in many ways: they can be eaten raw, with sugar, cream or sliced and dried before being incorporated into muesli or cottage cheese. If you have a bountiful harvest, you can also make jams, coulis, pies, ice cream or sorbets. Strawberries can also be frozen.

There are 3 categories of varieties:

- wild strawberries or perpetual strawberries, producing small fruits from June to October

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

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

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

The Strawberry is a hardy perennial belonging to the Rose family. This variety has a sturdy habit, with evergreen, trifoliate, ovate and toothed leaves. It offers small white flowers with a golden heart that will transform into large red fruits. Botanically speaking, we refer to strawberries as pseudocarps, with the achenes (seeds) appearing on the surface of the skin.

Pick the fruits as they ripen, every 2 or 3 days, ideally in the morning. Strawberries are delicate, so pick them with their stem by pinching the stem 1 to 2 cm (0 to 1in) above it. The texture of the fruit is a good indicator of ripeness. It should be firm and soft to the touch. Strawberries are rich in vitamins and minerals. They can cause itching for some people as they stimulate the release of histamine in the body.