Illinois Harvest of the Month

Strawberries: Registered sites page

 

 

 

Local strawberries are absolutely sweet and delicious! They can be easily frozen in June for use the entire year or during summer feeding. Fresh strawberries are wonderful addition to a taste test or as a garnish sprinkled on a fresh salad. When frozen, local strawberries can be added to baked goods, fruit salads and yogurt parfaits. There are many ways to afford the higher price tag and enjoy local strawberries!

Strawberries are the only fruit that wears their seeds on the outside. The average berry is adorned with some 200 of them. No wonder it only takes one bite to get seeds stuck in your teeth! These little red gems aren’t true berries, like blueberries or even grapes. Technically, a berry has its seeds on the inside. And, to be precise, each seed on a strawberry is considered by botanists to be its own separate fruit. Say, what?

According to the Minnesota State Extension offices, over 53 percent of seven to nine-year-old’s picked strawberries as their favorite fruit!

Did you know that Native Americans ate strawberries long before the European settlers arrived? As spring’s first fruit, they were a treat, eaten freshly picked or baked into cornbread. The ancient Romans thought strawberries had medicinal powers. They used them to treat everything from depression to fainting, to fever, kidney stones, bad breath and sore throats.

Agriculture Facts:

  • The average strawberry has 200 seeds. Technically berries have seeds on the inside and they don’t come from a single ovary, so strawberries are really in a group all their own. 
  • Strawberries are members of the rose family.

Nutrition and Food Facts:

  • Strawberries contain high levels of nitrate. This has been shown to increase blood and oxygen flow to the muscles. Research suggests that people who load up on strawberries before exercising have greater endurance and burn more calories.
  • Strawberries have lots of vitamin C. Only eight strawberries will provide 140 percent of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C for kids!
  • One cup of strawberries is only 55 calories.

History and Lore:

  • This delicate heart-shaped berry has always connoted purity, passion and healing. It has been used in stories, literature and paintings through the ages.
  • In parts of Bavaria, country folk still practice the annual rite each spring of tying small baskets of wild strawberries to the horns of their cattle as an offering to elves. They believe that the elves, who are passionately fond of strawberries, will help to produce healthy calves and abundance of milk in return.
  • Legend has it that if you break a double strawberry in half and share it with a member of the opposite sex, you will fall in love with each other.

Spread the word and build partnerships

Don’t be a solo act. Invite your community to the table!

Promote in-house:

  • Announcements 
  • Newsletters
  • Website
  • Social media
  • Events (health fairs, open houses, garden working events, back to school, holiday activities, parents night, sporting events)
  • Meetings (PTO, wellness committee, board of directors, staff professional learning days)
  • Food tastings during events

Promote in your community:

  • Report on activities and share pictures with news sources
  • Share with community partners for their websites, social media and newsletters
  • Post fliers at public places (libraries, health centers, non-profit hospitals, garden groups, local farm hubs, farmers markets, health agencies)
  • Ask students to create and publicize local food stories – include photos or create videos    

Invite others onsite to get involved:

  • Build impact by engaging culinary arts, Future Farmers of America, wellness, botany, ecocentric and garden programs
  • Create relationships and engage non-profit hospitals, garden groups, local farm hubs, farmers markets, health agencies and advocates
  • Find support in local culinary leaders and businesses    

Celebration Tips

Make fresh fruit skewers using fresh strawberries, grapes, pineapple and other easily skewered fruits. Serve them with local honey!

Celebrate National Strawberry Day on February 27th (it must have started in California!) with strawberry shaped fun facts in your cafeteria and hallways. Use frozen strawberries in recipes on the line. Grow real strawberry plants indoors to share as a visual of a real plant with your kids.

Curricular Connections and Activities

K-12:

  • The Strawberry Patch from the USDA. Click here to view the PDF.
  • Growing Minds lesson plans for strawberries  for students K-5. Click here to get to the page
  • Ag in the Classroom’s Strawberry Breeding and Genetics for students 9-12. Click here to view the lesson.
  • Berry Lessons from U of I Extension in Champaign. Click here for the lesson plan on raspberries, blackberries & blueberries; click here for the lesson on strawberries.

Menu Icons – right click to save these images

HotM_ShortLogo_RGB  

 

Recipes

We have many recipes for you to look through in our Recipe Index! Here you can see take-home recipes for use in the community as well as more choices for your cafeteria. We have hot and cold recipes for most foods. Be sure to use the provided icons on your menu!