My husband and I had just been for one of our walks when we passed a sign to a “spray free, pick your own strawberries”. Oh, this sounded interesting… I like the “spray free” part! As we were talking about it we come up with the question, “How are strawberries good for you?”
I believe that when a question is asked is the time it’s best to try to find out the answer, so we said to one another… “Let’s go in and see what they have to tell us.”
Now, as we are all aware, strawberry flavouring is one of the top three all time favourite flavours. Chocolate, Caramel and Strawberry… not necessarily in that order. All other flavours fall in behind there somewhere.
We are also aware that the flavours in milkshakes etc are not made from real fruit… they are concocted in a lab and made to taste pretty much like the real thing, usually using ingredients that are anything but the real thing. And of-course, this doesn’t mean that the flavouring is good for us, in fact, in most cases it’s not.
But while most companies are using strawberry flavour made in the lab from almost 50 different chemicals, you can opt for the natural variety and at the same time receive their multitude of health benefits…
Why do companies do this? Because it’s cheaper of-course, and it’s available all year round. They can also make it taste the same, every time.
Have you ever tasted a milkshake made with a real banana? It’s ten billion times nicer than a fake banana milkshake. But today we’re looking at strawberries.
Hillwood Berry Farm, on the eastern shores of the Tamar River Estuary in Tasmania, Australia felt welcoming from the moment we entered. It’s a family run business which goes out of its way to encourage families to come and enjoy their premises, along with the ability to pick your own strawberries. It felt good.
Normally I won’t buy strawberries because unless they have been grown organically they are on the Dirty Dozen Plus list of products that are best not to be consumed. Usually I’ll only eat what I grow, so I was keen to check them out.
As we approached the door, we took the time to smell some of the large tumble of roses growing along the path. Oh, was good!
We were given a tray and told there was no minimum… we could pick as many as we wanted to.
Out in the patch we found it lovely and green. The season was coming to an end but there were still plenty there for us to pick.
It didn’t take us long before our tray began to fill. Here’s my husband dreaming of strawberries and cream!
Back inside the lady weighed them… yummo they looked good!
I loved the fresh red and green inside which I’m guessing was to resemble a strawberry.
To give us time to ask some questions we indulged in a coffee, and a little taste of their fresh, home-made paleo goodies.
You could see that the season was coming to an end as they didn’t have a lot of other products available. Home-made natural organic essential oils, skin-care, hair care, as well as a whole variety of wines and vinegars.
When I questioned them on the “spray-free” she advised they bought the property 6 years ago with the intention of growing organic berries, but to become certified organic it’s a seven year process, with a whole lot of hoops to jump through. They were still aiming for that but never-the-less, it was great to be able to buy strawberries that receive no sprays of any kind.
As you can see from this photo, the strawberries are all planted in slits within black plastic. I’m guessing this is to keep the weeds down within the plants but there were clearly weeds between each row. I was thinking about that and thought maybe they run a lawnmower over it as the rows were definitely wide enough. I didn’t think to ask her but will next time.
Another thought I had… what stops the birds from coming and feasting out on all those beautiful strawberries? I’m curious about that one.
The lady who served us was definitely right up there when it came to information regarding their strawberries! She was able to tell us what they contained and what health benefits we could expect.
So, how are strawberries good for you…
Strawberries contain:
- Anti-inflammatory antioxidants
- Anti-aging flavonoid antioxidants
Because of their ability to fight free radial damage, and together with a long list of vitamins and minerals they potentially help:
- Eye health
- Lower risk of cancer
- Lower risk of cardiovascular disease
- Neurological health
- Skin Protection
- Lower levels of inflammation
- Decrease in arthritis pain
All this sounds really good to me.
Click here if you want to know the list of vitamins and minerals a strawberry contains.
So when we ask the question why are strawberries healthy, we can be assured there are many health benefits from regularly consuming these delightful and very yummy berries. It made me want to eat them often.
Are strawberries good for you? Be warned…
Most strawberries you buy come with a mouthful of pesticides! Because of the nature of strawberries, being so soft-skinned and delicate, it’s almost impossible to wash the sprays off them. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
If you want strawberries that actually taste good and are not hard and tasteless, you have to be able to eat them very soon after they’ve been picked. They need to ripen on the vine for that wonderful, delectable taste… and for the wonderful health benefits they are able to provide. The taste leaves the strawberry before they begin to show signs of deterioration.
So What Did I Do With Them?
After taking them home and giving them a good rinse in clean water, one of the first things I did was taste them. Oh yeah! They tasted really nice!
Now as I make up a brew of Water Kefir every second day, I had one that was ready for a second brewing. This is when you add some fruit in to flavour the Kefir. So I mashed up some strawberries and added them into the two bottles I had ready. When you “second ferment” your Water Kefir, you leave it sit out in room temperature for a couple of days before refrigerating it.
Having tasted the Strawberry Kefir since I can tell you it was really very nice. I’ll talk more about Water Kefir another time.
The next thing I did was make up some fresh strawberry custard. I’m talking real custard made from eggs and milk. The milk I used was coconut milk which I find works great.
I added more fresh strawberries on the top and a little cream. My husband was in seventh heaven… 🙂
Have you been able to find a farm nearby you where you can go in and pick your own berries? If you have, you know the difference between a vine ripened strawberry and one that might have travelled a great distance to your local shop. I’d be interested to hear your stories… please leave a comment down below.
I hope you’ve picked up some good information here on reading “Are Strawberries Good for You?”
Warm regards,
Marilyn Williams
I love berries! I really care about healthy food as well so I know how good berries are for you.
I used to love strawberries until one time I heard that those strawberries on the cakes are incredibly not good for you since they are not fresh and unwashed…..Just killed every interests for them ha…
Do you have any ideas for cleaning those store bought berries?
ps. I like your Strawberry Kefir! looks so nice!!
Thank you Jaclyn! I am currently looking into a product which I hope is going to do the job of washing and cleaning properly all the pesticides off. Unsure at the moment. I do know there are some things out on the market but I don’t know how good they really are.
The way I get around it is either grow my own, or buy organic. But even if you do that, you must wash them well because there is all sorts of “stuff” floating around in our air which can get onto the fruit. But, you are way in front!
The Strawberry Kefir, or any other naturally fruit flavoured Kifie is yum! We drink it every day as it not only tastes good but contains probiotics too!
Really appreciate your comment.
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn,
Boy, my mouth was watering when I read this! Strawberries are one of my absolute favorite fruits and I honestly didn’t realize all the benefits they have – BONUS!! But all those pesticides? Not good!
I think I had better be more choosy about the strawberries I buy! I had no idea about the long process it takes to be able to label something as organic!
Loved all of your pictures – makes me wish I could be there! You have a beautiful site! 🙂
Yes Anna, it’s hard to say what the end result would be when eating sprayed strawberries… would the good outweigh the bad? Can’t answer that, but we really are advised not to eat them when they are “unclean”… so I guess maybe that tells the story.
We have friends who are endeavouring to have organic garlic and they also told us of the long process. Of-course, that’s here in Australia so I’m not sure about other countries. I do know that “organic” can mean different things in different countries which is a bit off-putting.
Thanks you for your kind words re my site… I do appreciate it immensely. It’s good fun taking all the pictures and deciding which ones to use. 🙂
Thanks again,
Marilyn
I love the curiosity of both you and your husband! Your accidental adventure looked really lovely. I’m planning a trip to Tasmania and I’ll definitely check out the Hillwood Berry Farm – it looks like it has all my favorite things in one place: strawberries, sunshine, nature, and delicious food! I can’t wait, thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Julie, thanks for your great comment. I’m so pleased to know you’ve decided on visiting the Hillwood Berry Farm, and happy that I’ve played a small part in that. Yes it does have all you’ve mentioned. Depending upon the time of your visit as to whether you’ll find any berries there. They told me their season is ending in a couple of weeks.
I hope you enjoy your visit to Tassy as their are many places around that should satisfy your love of natural and great food.
I wonder where you are coming from?
Thanks again, Marilyn
I absolutely love strawberries and man was my mouth watering when I read this! I live in a rural area and have a few pesticide free farms I frequent when the weather is nice…living in northern Ohio sure does have its downfalls. I am so excited the weather is warming up and I will soon be tasting vine-picked strawberries! I was also happy to read all of the amazing benefits you get from this delicious fruit. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Nikki, thanks for that! Yes, it does tend to make your mouth water doesn’t it. They are so yum! I was so glad to hear you are aware of the sprays and gather your strawberries from pesticide free farms. That’s fantastic. The more of us that do it, gradually more and more of these places will become available.
Well done. Marilyn
Hi Marilyn, what a lovely, enjoyable read. Your post has made me more aware of the strawberries I give to my children. They absolutely adore them and I would never deny them fruit- although it is so sad to think that there is so much spray on them.
Do you know of anything other than water that I could wash them with before I give them to my kids?
Thank you Paula! I’m just about to find out more on a product that is supposed to help remove the spray from produce… I will be writing about it here after I’ve looked into it. I hope it does what it says it will do.
There are other ones available in the market place but I cannot vouch for how good or bad they are. Anyway, we’ll see.
Thanks for sharing,
Marilyn
This was such a great read! You got me excited for summer, the season of berry picking and farmers markets. When I was a child, my mom used to take me and my sister to pick wild berries and it’s one of my favorite childhood memories. In the early years of my first-born son’s life, I took him to pick wild berries. Of course he loved it! There is no comparison to a fresh-picked berry. Now we live in a place where wild berries are hard to come by, but luckily there are a few farms we can visit!
Thank you Candace! I’m so glad it brought back such good memories for you. You know, it’s always the simple things that we remember so well in life isn’t it? We are excited because this place is very close to where we live so even though there season is coming to an end, we have it to look forward to next season. Yummo!
Thanks again.
Marilyn
I just ate a whole bunch of strawberries a couple of hours ago before reading this. But to be honest, now I am a bit paranoid about all the pesticide that’s going in my body, because I buy all my strawberries from local grocery stores. I’m not even sure if I ever tasted a fresh picked strawberries before because I got so used to buying them from local grocery stores.
It’s good to know there are so many great health benefits to strawberries and that’s going to make me consume more, but at the same time this pesticide story’s a bit making me cautious about consuming too much of them.
Oh I agree with you Joon! That’s exactly the way I am. I see them in the local stores but I’ve taken to leaving them right where they are. It’s such a shame too because strawberries are REALLY good for you. As you can’t wash the spray off them, it’s either strawberries and spray, or not at all! That is… until you source somewhere that has fresh spray free ones!!!
Go do that Joon! You might be really surprised.
Thanks for sharing and don’t panic too much, but just be aware of the reality.
Warm regards, Marilyn
I love the way you displayed so many images so we can also enjoy your outing. I love strawberries and I’ve never taken too much notice of how good they are I just eat them. Thanks for your share.
Hi Vanessa! Yes it’s true, we eat what we love without too much thought. Next time you eat them you may be more mindful of all the good they’re doing to your body to keep you healthy and strong. I appreciate you taking the time to leave the comment. Marilyn
Thx 4 ur post. Its helpful. Wont forget it.
Oh that’s ok! I’m glad you found it helpful and meaningful to you. Thanks for the comment. Marilyn
Good morning! Your post backs up my business. I will share it with others.
Good morning to you too! Thanks for taking the time to leave the comment. I’m glad you find it helpful. Marilyn