Food Tale: BERRIES

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did."
--Sir Izaak Walton, the Compleat Angler, 1653-55

Comes the revolution, we'll eat strawberries and cream! --Willy Howard, Ballyhoo of 1932 (vaudeville)

...if reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I
--Falstaff to Prince Hal in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I: II, 4, 267

When he was by, the birds such pleasure took
That some would sing, some other in their bills
Would bring him mulberries and ripe-red cherries
--Shakespeare, "Venus and Adonis," ll. 1101-3

A 2-pound turkey and a 50-pound cranberry--that's Thanksgiving dinner at Three-Mile Island
--Johnny Carson

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Berries

Strawberries (Frangaria):

This member of the rose family is not a true berry at all, since it carries its tiny seeds on the outside of its flesh, not within its tissue. Its name probably derives from the way it grows--originally called strewberry because of the way it's "strewn" over the ground.

Romans were known to relish wild strawberries. Then, in the 1700s, a hybrid was developed between Frangaria chiloensis, the Chilean pine, and Frangaria virginiana (the Scarlet Virginian) that essentially became the modern strawberry. Of the latter, which was mentioned first in Massachusetts in 1621, one colonist in Maryland wrote, "We cannot set down a foot but we tread on strawberries."

Alpine strawberries (Frangaria vesca semperflorens), by contrast, grow in clumps and were native to Europe north of the Alps. They were unknown to ancient Greeks; barely mentioned by Romans and early medieval writers; but were greatly popular in England ifrom the 13th century onward.

Blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus):

Although considered a traditional American and Canadian fruit (and these two countries supply 95% of the world supply), blueberries (aka, huckleberries or whortleberries) are native to Europe and found on heaths and moors in acid soils.

Cranberries