Welcome to the Wild Foods Guide Page for: Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca)

Wild Food Guide For: Wild Strawberry



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Mushrooms and Fungi

Wild Strawberry


This is the description page for Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the wild foodstuff: Wild Strawberry.

wild strawberry

The wild strawberry, Fragaria vesca, (also known as Woodland Strawberry, Alpine Strawberry and European Strawberry.) is a perennial ground-covering flowering plant of the Rosaceae (Rose) family. The leaves are glossy, dark green and three-lobed and the small five-petalled flowers are produced in summer. The fruit itself is unusual in that it's classed as an accessory fruit (where the fleshy part is derived not from the ovaries which are the "seeds" (actually achenes) but from the peg at the bottom of the hypanthium that held the ovaries). Technically, therefore, it's only the yellow seeds on the surface of the strawberry that are the fruit of the plant.

Woodland strawberries rarely form runners (unless the soil supporting them is very poor) and tend to propagate either via seeds or via division of the parent plant. In the past this species of strawberry was widely cultivated in Eurpoe, but was eventually displaced by the Garden Strawberry (an early 18th century accidental hybridizaton of of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America, which was noted for its fine flavor, and Fragaria chiloensis from Chile and noted for its large size).

Wild strawberries remain common in woodlands and on walls and banks. They prefer chalky soils and often colonize limestone walls. The leaves may be used as n herbal tea which is believed to aid in the treatment of diarrhoea. However, it's the fruit that are worth foragin for. They may be tiny in size, but they are very flavoursome (much more so than modern cultivars) and it's well worth the trouble of picking them. They are wonderful set in a wine-glass and topped with champage. They aslo make a glorious coulis for use with other fruit where they are simply puréedd with wine, black pepper and a little honey.


Recipes Utilizing Wild Strawberry

A Spring Tart
Wild Strawberry Sauce
Fruit Dumplings




Welcome to the Celtnet guide to wild foods. As this recipe site has grown it has become obvious that to allow people to replicate some of the more ancient recipes on this site (especially from the Ancient, Roman and Medieval periods) it is necessary to list modern alternatives but also to produce a guide so that the curious can find the original (often wild) ingredients for themselves. These pages are an attempt at bringing all these potentially useful and often forgotten wild foods together into one place.

It is a sad fact that we have lost much of the knowledge we once had of the seasonal wild foods that we have on our own doorstep and which are not only safe to eat but which are also very tasty and fresh. This section of the site grew from the work I've done on the ancient recipes section of this site. After all, for our ancestors before farming wild foods were the only foods available. This guide therefor represents images lists and recipes for various wild foods you can gather and what you can do with them. For the most part the list contains edible plants. But I am beginning to add a new section on edible wild mushrooms and this part of the site will be expanding to include many other plants and species very soon. If you would like to know how to cook with these wild foods, then as well as having links to individual recipes on these pages you can also visit my Wild Food Recipes pages for many more (over 1000 and growing) recipe ideas.



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