Wild strawberries

What are granny and her grandchildren looking at so attentively? A little natural miracle. A herbaceous plant with white hermaphrodite flowers, each of which possesses both male and female traits, and whose sex cells are disseminated by insects, resulting in other flowers being fertilised.

The result of this process are wild strawberries (Fregaria vesca), much sweeter and more aromatic than farmed strawberries. They begin to appear with the arrival of Spring every year. In fact, the little fleshy fruit that we eat is not the real fruit of this plant.

The real fruit are the little grains that we swallow without realising it every time we eat a strawberry. Strawberry juice, with its bitter-sweet taste and mouth-watering aroma, is one of the most complex natural products of the vegetable kingdom.

It is composed, among other things, of the following acids: acetic acid, caproic acid, benzoic acid, ethylic and amyl alcohol, ethyl salicylate, borneol, terpin, and so on. It is rich in vitamin C and contains diuretic properties.

Carl von Linné himself, the father of taxonomy and the man who gave strawberries their scientific name, claimed to have cured his gout by eating half a kilo of strawberries every day. Even as far back as the 16th century, the leaves and roots of this plant were used to cure ulcers, dysentery and other conditions.

In sum, nature is an immense encyclopaedia of minuscule designs which, though they often escape our notice, are always there, shouting out the word: INTELLIGENCE!