Strawberry Gariguette - Fragaria ananassa

The strawberry Gariguette produces large elongated fruits with firm and juicy flesh and excellent taste quality. It is a non-perpetual variety, but early and productive. Gariguette strawberries are ideal for making tarts and pastries and preparing preserves. Early and productive variety. It produces elongated fruits with very fragrant, firm and juicy flesh. It is a non-perpetual variety. Pair it with a perpetual variety like 'Mara des Bois' to extend your strawberry harvest throughout the summer!

Strawberries can be consumed in multiple ways: they can be eaten raw, 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:

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

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

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

In fact, the wild strawberry or woodland strawberry, present in Roman times and the medieval period, was crossed in the 18th century with a species brought from Chile, resulting in the selection of different large-fruited varieties through successive breeding.

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

For harvesting, pick the fruits as they ripen, every 2 or 3 days ideally in the morning. Strawberries are delicate, so pick them with their calyx 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 yielding to the touch. Strawberries are rich in vitamins and minerals. They can cause urticating sensations for some individuals as they stimulate the release of histamine in the body.