Try
as I might I cannot better the ‘Bard of England’ with a title for this little
tome. However, the one thing guaranteed about a strawberry by another name is
that it is exotic, has an exceptional tropical flavor and is over here creating
a bit of a stir in restaurants up and down the country.
An
explosion of flavour to tickle your taste buds
The pineberry is of course a hybrid plant
which yields a fruit not too dissimilar to a strawberry. Whereas a strawberry
has red flesh and green/white seeds the reverse is true of the pineberry plant. The berries are smaller than
strawberries and as such are more expensive to buy than traditional
strawberries.
The name is derived
from the fact the aftertaste is slightly similar to pineapple, and although the
aroma and taste is delicate and fragrant, the cost has been a prohibitive
factor in this fruit becoming popular - till now.
Cost
is no barrier
The cost of the fruit
when purchased in a restaurant is expensive; after all, when sold in stores
such as Waitrose the cost per pound in weight can be as much as £14.00. For the
average family the cost is prohibitive; however, it is not a case of
profiteering on the part of the supermarket. A combination of small scale
farming and low yield crops of small berries, mean it is never going to be as
cheap as traditional fruits we can buy in the supermarket or grow in our own
gardens.
Homegrown
is best
Thankfully you don't
have to take out a second mortgage to enjoy this superb and very unique fruit;
simply grow it at home. These hardy little plants are extremely resistant to
disease and can be grown in the ground or, as many people are doing, grown in
pots above ground level. If you want to have something a little unusual in your
garden it is difficult to find something more unusual than this.
The plants are very
hardy as mentioned and can withstand frost to as low as minus five degrees.
Planted in pots, they can be moved indoors to a garage, conservatory or
greenhouse if the temperature looks like dropping lower. The plants crop a little
earlier than traditional strawberries around early June. If you want to put a
little something on the table which is different, the fruit of the pineberry is definitely different and unusual.
They are in effect
little different to strawberries and should be treated as such. The scent of
the plant and flowers is not overpowering but is a fragrant addition to a
garden, something a little different.
However, there are
few places where you can buy these beautiful little plants which deliver a
vibrant flavor to your taste buds. There are one or two specialist centres up
and down the country, and you can also obtain specialist advice to help make
your new crop a success.
Sitting in your
garden on the patio in the summer, you can guarantee these little beauties will
be a topic of conversation for anyone joining you.
Graham Green is a
freelance writer, blogger and researcher. He has tasted pineberry fruit once and was rather intrigued.
So much so he thought it was a good April fool joke till he was shown the plant
in a pot in his friend’s garden.
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