Fraise des bois

Fraise des bois is French for “strawberry of the woods.” Wild strawberries are also known as alpine strawberries and, though these names may suggest that they are native only to the mountain regions of France, in fact, wild strawberries grow in the open patches and meadows of woodlands all over Europe, from Italy in the south to Lapland in the north. These small, intensely sweet strawberries are, for good reason, considered the queen of all strawberries. They produce a bounty of fruit from early July until the first frost. Commercially, wild strawberries are fairly expensive, mainly because they are time-consuming to pick and the fruit is quite susceptible to hot spells. There are both red and white (actually a pale yellow) varieties. Unlike their larger counterparts, red wild strawberries are still pale white inside even when they are fully ripe.