With its crimson coat, its delicate flavour and its sweet taste, the strawberry of the Périgord represents one of the jewels of our gastronomy.
We can eat strawberries as well as other red fruits such as “blackcurrants”, “currants”, “raspberries”, “blackberries” or “bilberries”.
There are about ten varieties of strawberries which ripen from spring to autumn.
The first strawberry young plants were brought from Chile by François Amédée Frézier, a cartographer and a French naval officer. Then, strawberries were grown in Plougastel, a small town in Brittany.
Growing strawberries is quite recent in our region but, today, the Périgord is the second producer of strawberries with a yearly production of about 18000 tons, let’s say 24% of the French production.
This fruit is particularly delicate so it must be picked up with care early in the morning and quickly put into padded boxes.
Picking and packaging are quickly done so that we can find sweet fresh red strawberries at the market or in shops. Their prices vary from 7 to 15 euros a kilo.
In fact what we call “strawberry” is not the real fruit. The real fruits are all the small seeds we can see on the pulpy scarlet receptacle.