Saturday, April 4, 2009

Life Is Just A Bowl of Berries (094/365)

2009 04 04 IMG_3395 
"Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did."

William Allen Butler, (American lawyer and writer of poetical satires, 1825-1902)

TIME: 4:48 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen counter
SUBJECT: Hulled strawberries

I braved the "Mart of Wal" (WalMart) today, while StellaDella was at a birthday party at the nearby YMCA.  DramaQueen was with me while MonkeyBoy and HandsomeHusband were at MB's baseball practice.  I needed to pick up some items (toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex - it was a paper extravaganza!) and something to make for dinner.  I found my main course ingredients and then saw that they had 1-pound containers of strawberries for just $2.00 - Score!  So we had beef & vegetable fajitas with strawberry shortcakes for dessert. 

Each year when strawberries are in season, I am reminded of a conversation at my family's supper table about 27 years ago.  My sister who was about 6 announced that strawberries were not fruit, because they have their seeds on the outside.  This caused quite the stir in our family unit at the time.  But, as it turns out, my little sister was partially correct.  To quote from http://articles.gourt.com/en/strawberry - "The strawberry is an accessory fruit; that is, 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. So from a technical standpoint, the seeds are the actual fruits of the plant, and the flesh of the strawberry is a vegetable. It is greenish-white as it develops and in most species turns red when ripe."  The things you can find out on the web are amazing.

3 comments:

Christina said...

I should buy some strawberries!

bentonflocke said...

We love strawberries but they are not in season at the moment in germany.

About the conversation with your sister 27 years ago... a few month ago I read about this fact of the strawberries in a magazine

Sujomi said...

Christina - I cannot wait for pick-your-own here. I love strawberry season!

bentonflocke - When do they come in season in Germany?