From the Garden of Historic Longstreet Farm: Strawberries

One of the berries harvested in the garden at Historic Longstreet Farm are strawberries. Strawberries were also said to have been peddled on the streets of ancient Grecian and Roman cities. The popular, delicious berries are actually native to North America and the Native Americans used them in many dishes. In as early as 1600, the first colonists in America shipped native strawberry plants back to Europe. 

Early Americans didn't cultivate strawberries in their own gardens because they were so abundant in the wild. It wasn't until the early 19th century that cultivation began as strawberries became considered an ingredient in luxurious desserts. New York was a hub for strawberries with the advent of the railroad as they shipped their crops in refrigerated rail cars. Production then spread across the country, and today 75 percent of U.S. strawberry crops are grown in California.

Check out these traditional recipes and techniques for strawberries from cookbooks published in the late 19th century:

Rice and Strawberry Dessert.

Soak a cup of rice in one and a half cups of new milk; place all in an earthen dish, and steam an hour, or until dry and tender, stirring occasionally for the first fifteen minutes. When the rice is done, place in the bottom of cups previously moistened with cold water, five nice hulled strawberries in the shape of a star. Carefully fill the interstices between the berries with the cooked rice, and put in a layer of rice. Add next a layer of strawberries, then another of rice. Press firmly into the coups, and set away to cool. When well molded, turn into saucers, and pile whipped cream around each mold; sprinkle with sugar and serve.

A little care in forming the stars and filling in the molds makes this a delicious and pretty dessert. If preferred, the dessert may be prepared in one large mold, and a larger number of berries arranged in the form of a cross in the bottom of the dish, covering with rice, and adding as many alternate layers of berries and rice as desired.

From “Science in the Kitchen” by Mrs. E.E. Kellogg, A.M. Modern Medicine Publishing Co., Chicago, 1893.


Strawberry Sherbet.

-Mrs. W. W. Ross.-

One quart of strawberries, three pints of water, one lemon, the juice only, one tablespoonful of orange flower water, three-fourths of a pound of sugar. The strawberries should be very ripe, crush to a smooth paste, add the rest of the ingredients except the sugar, and let it stand for three hours; strain over the sugar, stir until sugar is dissolved, strain again; and set in a pail of ice for two hours or more before using. This is delicious.
From "Keesling's Book of Recipes and Household Hints" by B.F. Keesling, Wholesale and Retail Druggist. Wilson, Humphreys & Co, Logansport, Indiana, 1890.


Strawberry Sponge.

1/3 box gelatine or 1 2/3 tablespoons granulated gelatine.

1/3 cup cold water.

1/3 cup boiling water.

1 cup sugar.

1 tablespoon lemon juice.

1 cup strawberry juice.

Whites 3 eggs.

Whip from 2 cups cream.

Soak gelatine in cold water, dissolve in boiling water, strain, and add sugar, lemon juice, strawberry juice. Chill in pan of ice water; when quite thick, beat with wire spoon or whisk until frothy, then add whites of eggs beaten stiff, and fold in cream. Line a mould with sections of strawberries, turn in mixture, smooth evenly, and chill.

From "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" by Fannie Merritt Farmer, Principal of the Boston Cooking-School. Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1896.

Source:

• A Brief History of the Strawberry, The Spruce Eats. https://www.thespruceeats.com/history-of-strawberry-1807668.
• “Science in the Kitchen” by Mrs. E.E. Kellogg, A.M. Modern Medicine Publishing Co., Chicago, 1893.