The celebrated English physician and writer, William Butler (1535-1681) was so enamoured of strawberries that his statement “doubtless God could have made a better berry but doubtless God did not do it”, is perhaps the highest compliment given to the strawberry.

Strawberry, a member of the Rosacea family that includes many other popular fruits like apple, pear, peach, apricot, etc., is a small plant with white flowers, shallow root system, and bears a conical tapering fruit with small brown seeds on its surface. On ripening, the fruit turns blood-red, fleshy, and juicy. The strawberry is loved for its characteristic aroma, bright red colour, juicy texture and sweetness; its unique flavour and taste is due to the presence of volatile esters.

Fresh strawberry is prized for dessert and the fruit is widely used to prepare ice cream, jam, jelly, milkshake and yoghurt, cake topping as well as a flavouring agent for cakes, soft-drinks, preserves, etc. Artificial strawberry flavouring is also widely used in many industrialised food products.

Nutritionally, strawberry is a low-calorie carbohydrate and a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibre. It provides more ascorbic acid than an orange. A mature strawberry contains 89.9 per cent water, and contains Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin BI, manganese, iron, sodium, zinc, lipids, calcium, phosphorus, calcium pectate and 36.9 kcal energy. The berry is a diuretic; it has blood-purifying, anti-cancerous, cholesterol-reducing properties and is beneficial for cardiac patients. Its flesh and juice are used for whitening of teeth and for exfoliation and its leaves can be used to make tea for medicinal benefits.

Since fresh strawberries are available for only for a short period in the market you can freeze them for later use, using either the dry-sugar or syrup pack method. The dry-sugar pack is especially easy and gives the best flavour and colour for sliced or crushed berries. For whole frozen berries a syrup pack is recommended because it produces a plump, well-shaped berry after thawing.

Dry sugar pack Cut or slice the berries, put them in a bowl and sprinkle a little sugar over them. Turn over and over till the sugar is dissolved; package and freeze. If you prefer you can crush the berries rather than slice them.

Sugar pack Make a syrup using one and a quarter cups water for each cup sugar. Use about 1.3 cups of syrup per pint container. Place whole or sliced berries in the container and cover with cold syrup before freezing.

Or you can simply spread the berries on a tray after removing the head and keep them covered in the freezer. They may not come out as fresh but can be used for making milkshake, etc.

No matter which type of method you choose to use, follow these general directions for freezing:

• Use only firm, fully ripe berries. • Drain on absorbent paper or in a sieve. • Chill the fruit in ice water to lower its temperature for fast freezing.

Strawberry grows in the wild, in the temperate regions of America and Europe. The cultivated variety was first developed in France in the 17th century and it is now widely cultivated all over the world. Europe contributes to more than 50 per cent of the world’s strawberry production followed by the former USSR, Japan, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Israel, New Zealand and USA.

In Pakistan, strawberries are cultivated by a few enterprising growers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab and Sindh. Commercial cultivation is now increasing in Sindh and Punjab with the germplasm obtained from KP. The country’s production of strawberries falls short of its requirement and is met with some imports from other countries.

Strawberry is propagated from seed and plant runners that are detached from the mother plant in OctoberNovember. Strawberries can be grown in earthen pots, homegreenfruitand sold as transplants in plant nurseries for Rs40 to Rs60 per potted plant (in Karachi).