The history of strawberry is the story about
increasing quantity and reduced quality.
Not all of the old strawberry cultivars were delicious, but some was,
and they represented a broader variety of taste, form and color than
do the few and homogene cultivars which dominate the market
nowadays.
This page is a virtual taste sample of some old Danish cultivars which
earlier was highly praised by Danish strawberry entusiasts. They often
prove useless for commercial production and sale, but they are
unsurpassable for home growing.
J.A. Dybdahl - more famous than any other Danish
cultivar !
J. A. Dybdahl was introduced by gardener H.H. Larsen from Refslund
near Århus i 1909 and was dearly beloved by Danish strawberry
growers in half a century.
The Dybdahl strawberry has large comblike berries. The berries are
bright red and has lost popularity, because mainstream consumers
prefer dark red strawberries.
Dybdahl has a very mild and aromatic flavour and a very nice scent;
today nearly 90 years after the introduction J.A. Dybdahl still has a
few faithful friends among Danish gardeners.
Alpine strawberries
Before the large-fruited strawberries were introduced in Europe, a
cultivar of the wild European Wood-strawberry was grown. These "Alpine
strawberries" have no runners and the berries are twice as big as the
wild Wood-strawberries, but still they have the distinctive and
aromatic flavour of the wild strawberries.
Alpine strawberries are oblong and tapering, varieties with red fruits
as well as varieties with white or yellow fruits are known.
"Pinestrawberries"
Red Pine - White Pine
The first largefruited strawberries, which arrived to Europe were
compared with pineapples, and named Late Pine, White Pine, Red Pine,
etc.
The fruits were very soft and delicate, but also extremely sweet. The
colors were much brighter than that of the new cultivars. Skincolor
would be bright red with pink-white flesh, other cultivars had
delicate pink almost white skincolor and white flesh.
Abundance
In the old days it was common to distinguish between strawberries for
preserves and berries for dessert, the later came from cultivars with
a more delicate, sweet and aromatic flavour. When Abundance was
introduced by Carl Jensen in 1884 everybody realised that this was a
preserve-berry with a "simple and sour taste". Anyway - compared with
the taste of many new cultivars, Abundance has a nice taste.
Königin Luise
Königin Luise was also called "The Strawberry Queen" in Denmark.
"She" was popular for many years, and nearly as famous as Dybdahl.
"Her" advantage is shining coralred berries, very aromatic and more
sweet than Dybdahl. Furthermore Kønigin Louise is less
sensitive to both drought and moisture than many other cultivars.
Click on the Dybdahl berry to get further in
cyberspace
The objective of the Center for Bio-diversitet is to support
biological diversity and the survival of old and new varieties of
domesticated animals and plants with valueable characteristics
The Homepages of the centre is edited by Heine Refsing