Beguiled by its symmetry and rich coloration, the masters of early Renaissance painting surrounded their renderings of the Madonna and child with strawberry plants, whose three-part leaves symbolized the Trinity and whose fragrant fruit, bowing to the ground, conveyed “noble thought and modesty” (Lipfert, Symbol-Fibel. Kassel). The rosy orb in these paintings is the tiny European fraise des bois, or Fragaria vesca, botanically distinct from the hardier Virginia strawberry, F. virginiana. When crossed with a large variety from Chile, the New World native became the parent of the commercial strawberry most of us buy in cartons at the grocery store.

This history may seem a bit esoteric for a family eating column, but one of the ways we can teach our children to enjoy the pleasures of good, wholesome food is by talking about it with them. My son delights in stories, and the strawberry’s is a tale of mystery and romance. How did the Chilean berry meet Virginia? Legend has it that Ginny was actually a male, brought in to wed the South American bachelorette smuggled back to the Old World by a French spy in the early 1700s. Their union resulted in sturdy offspring that, unlike their distant — and dare we say effete — European cousins, could withstand the extremes of the American climate.

They’re the ancestors of a wide range of berries grown in the U.S. today. Some are quite good, but the best only become available locally from late April till early June.
I’m not knocking grocery-store berries. My son loves them, regardless of their parentage. The many varieties grown in the states that supply Memphis — California, Louisiana, and Florida — travel well and have decent color, but they can’t approach the perfume and sweetness of fraise des bois or the American wild strawberry.

The farther berries travel, the firmer they must be, so most are bred for resilience and shipped before ripening develops their characteristic aroma and flavor. In fact, the closest most of us get to wild strawberries is at the farmers market or in a local grower’s field. Lucky for us, several local farms offer u-pick varieties that are even better — because they’re more perishable — than the ones they bring to town.

Whether you’re buying strawberries at the market or picking them yourself, look for berries that are red all the way to the top. Smell them. Do they remind you of shampoo or lip gloss? Good. The sweeter, the better. You want fresh-looking leaves and stems, no soft spots or dry, wrinkly skin. If you can sample, which you should, check to see if they are red all the way through. Of course, they should taste heavenly.

In recent months I’ve visited a couple of strawberry growers near Memphis. They’ve got great things in store for us this spring, provided the gods cooperate. I plan to bake a strawberry-rhubarb pie, which tastes so beautiful I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Then my son and I will make jam from a recipe in Russ Parsons’ excellent book, How to Pick a Peach (Houghton Mifflin). Although I’m not going to print it here, I recommend his low-fuss approach. We’ll also do shortcakes and strawberries with cream and yogurt. My family will go wild.

This year, though, we’re really worked up about strawberry ice cream. If you own or can borrow an ice-cream maker, I want you to do it, too. There’s nothing — nothing!— like home-made ice cream. All conversation stops while people are eating it. And as far as I’m concerned, ice cream made with strawberries at the peak of the season — well, it’s a work of art.

However, not everyone owns an ice-cream maker. So here’s a recipe for a lush pink weeknight dessert that you can make with fresh or frozen berries. It’s not foolproof: to achieve the best flavor and texture, you’ll need to taste it a few times to adjust the sweetness and creaminess to your liking. But is that such a hardship?

Local Strawberry Growers

Always call before going to ensure that the crop is in and the grower is open for business.

SHELBY COUNTY

Jones Orchard • 873-3150
5762 Pleasant Ridge Rd., Millington

Windermere Farms & Apiaries • 386-2035
3060 Woodhills Dr.

TIPTON COUNTY

Fletcher Farm • 476-9257
8343 Munford-Gilt Edge Rd., Burlison

LAUDERDALE COUNTY

Reg Carmack Farm • (731) 635-2088
152 Carmack Road, Ripley, TN, 38063

Voss Farms • (731) 635-0739
1345 Bald Knob Road, Ripley