More info about this plant will come shortly. Stay tuned!
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Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta sweet. Mostrar todas las entradas
jueves, 29 de agosto de 2013
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| Detail of wild strawberry fruit |
Scientific Name: Fragaria Vesca
Habitat: Grow from low valleys to timberline in moist soils within meadows, woods and streambeds.
Main properties: Plenty! read here: http://www.botanical-online.com/english/strawberryproperties.htm
Additionally, strawberries can white the teeth when mixed with bicarbonate. Simply make a paste with 50-50 of both ingredients and rub your teeth with it. Leave it for 3 minutes and wash your mouth. Use it twice per week.
When to pick them?: When the fruit is totally red, they are more sweet and aromatic when totally red.
Wild strawberries or fragaria vesca are one of those short pleasures we cannot miss when summer arrives. Planted strawberries have a delicious taste as well but it is not as aromatic, intense and rich of the little wild strawberry. It is important to add that planted strawberries are sometimes treated with many pesticides that can decrease our endocrine functions:
"Campaign partners Générations Futures and Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN-E) conducted an investigation into strawberries sold in France, originating from the country or from Spain. Out of 49 samples analysed, 91.83% contained one or more pesticide residues and in total, 71.42% of the samples contained pesticides that are EDCs."To read the full article follow this link: http://www.edc-free-europe.org/whats-in-your-strawberries/
You can find wild strawberries easy along the path walks in sunny areas, and even thou their habitat needs some moisture, I have seen them along roads where the soil has some sand and not much moist.
The season is very short and the battle to get good looking fresh ones is between you, the mooses, the deer and the snails! But do not worry, there are plenty of strawberries for everybody.
You can pick a big bunch of them and put them on a straw like this picture from pinterest:
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| Image taken from: http://pinterest.com/pin/99149629265805911/ |
Source: http://www.fcps.edu
| "Wild Strawberry is a common creeping plant that grows in forests,fields, lawns, forest edges, roadsides, and streamsides (just about anywhere). It can grow up to six inches tall, and its leaves are split into three leaflets. Each leaflet is 1 to 1 1/2 inches long and has teeth on its edges. Petiolesare hairy. Creeping plants, like strawberries, have runners. Runners are stems which grow sideways on the surface of the soil. As the runners grow, they send up new strawberry plants".
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The wild strawberry flowers from April to June. Pick the ones that have an intense red color. Avoid the damaged ones (dark red, bad smell).
Parts used: Root, leaves, fruit
Uses for healing: Traditionally, Wild Strawberry was used to treat the liver, intestinal and stomach disorders. The leaves and roots were used in treatments of gum disease.
Nowadays, leaves are used as an astringent, in cases of sore throats, cuts, burns and bruises. Make a tea with the leaves if you have diarrhea.
The fruit has diuretic and cooling properties. It is usually used to treat arthritis, tuberculosis, gout and rheumatism. The tincture made from the leaves is useful in case of gingivitis.
NOTE TO SELF and TO YOU:
"The red pigment found on strawberries seem to protect against UVA radiation (Anthocyanins) = Natural Sunblock
Homemade natural sunblock via http://frugallysustainable.com:
http://frugallysustainable.com/2012/03/a-recipe-for-natural-homemade-sunscreen/
Let me know if you try this out!!
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| Upper view of strawberry bush |
More info:
How to grow organic via about.com strawberries? http://organicgardening.about.com/od/fruits/a/orgstrawberries.htm
Interesting video made by YuraGim: Facts about strawberries
Do you have something to add? Leave your comment below! after review I will quote it in the post and remain as your contribution.
Blueberry:
Scientific Name: Vaccinium myrtillus
Habitat: Nutrient-poor soils throughout the temperate and subarctic regions of the world. (Meaning pine. spruce, birch forests.)
When to pick it?: Make sure the fruits have a good size and dark violet color. Discard any black or green fruits.
Taste: If ready, blueberries have a very special taste. Between sweet and sour.
Main properties:
Antioxidant, high in vitamin C and a good source of fiber, blueberries have a compound, pterostilbene, which acts to protect the heart in the same way as cholesterol-lowering drugs. They also contain anthocyanins, which give them their blue colour. Other flavonoids reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. It is believed that blueberries have an anti-cancer effect.
If you have tried blueberries before you will get hook on them. In Finland they start growing in the beginning of July and last until the beginning of September. They need rain in order to grow. When summer season is very dry it is harder to find them.
Blueberries are very easy to identify but not so easy to pick, since their size is rather small it is easier to use a berry picker.
NOTE:
In Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Switzerland, it is an everyman's right to collect bilberries, irrespective of land ownership, with the exception of private gardens and nature reserves. (Click the link to know more about everymans right law via wikipedia).
If you thought that blueberries are originally from Northern countries... "Highbush blueberries were first introduced to Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands in the 1930s, and have since been spread to Romania, Poland, Italy, Hungary and other countries of Europe".
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| Image by: knitting iris |
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