Strawberries are a fragrant, red-coloured, ground-dwelling fruit. Their history dates back over 2,000 years with records showing a variety of breeds as a native in many parts of the world.

In the early eighteenth century a strawberry hybrid was created that took its size from a South American variety and its taste and fragrance from France.  This created what it is known today as the common strawberry that is preferred throughout Europe.  
 
The strawberry is often described as a luxury item, enjoyed by royalty. France's King Charles V had over 3000 planted at the Louvre in Paris, King Louis XIII ate them everyday; and both Louis XIII and Louis XIV the latter enjoyed the berries so much that they are recorded to have eaten them to the point of indigestion! 

Today, the United States, Canada, France, Japan, Italy, Australia and New Zealand are some of the largest commercial producers of strawberries. In California, on the west coast America, they have been grown since the early 1900s.  More than 25,000 acres of strawberries are planted there each, since the state produces more than 80 percent of all the strawberries grown in the United States.

The use of strawberries and of the strawberry plant itself for therapeutic purposes dates back as long as they have been eaten. American Indians prepared infusions of strawberry plant leaves as a treatment for stomach pain and gastrointestinal ailments such as diarrhoea. Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus was convinced that strawberries had miraculously healed his severe attack of gout; and the French philosopher Bernard de Fontenelle, who died at the age of 100 attributed the secret of his longevity to strawberries. 

Strawberries also contain a large amount of antioxidant, anticancer, anti-neurodegenerative, and anti-inflammatory properties, making them, like many other berries, very useful as a natural alternative to western medicine.