When is a rose not a rose? When it is a strawberry of course! 

Now that we are into the month of May, farmers in your community are selling, on Market Wagon, the tastiest member of the rose family – the strawberry. 

While strawberries are grown in every state in the United States, (yup, even Alaska!), 90% are grown in California with Florida producing another 8%. That’s why you should look to your local farmer to give you the best and freshest berry, rather than relying on a national or even international supply chain (roughly 20% of strawberries eaten in the U.S. are imported from Mexico).

Read on for a few fresh facts about strawberries:

Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring. On average, there are 200 seeds in a single strawberry. And they sure are popular – in a recent survey, it was the favorite fruit of 53% of kids ages 7-9. The average American eats about 6 pounds of fresh strawberries a year.

They are also a very healthy food. Just 6 strawberries provide 105% of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C for kids. One cup of strawberries is only 55 calories.

So be sure to check Market Wagon for local strawberry farmers including:

• RC Farms – Samuel Carlton is a third-generation farmer in Middle Tennessee who offers delicious strawberries to Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville.
• Toms Creek Farms – Larry Schneeberger partners with his friends at Clayton Rawl Farms outside Columbia, SC, to bring organic strawberries to the Charlotte and Midlands market. Zeigler Family Farms also sells South Carolina strawberries to the Midlands market.
• Busch Family Farms – David Busch works with an Amish farm in nearby Windsor, Missouri to bring fresh all-natural strawberries to the Kansas City market.
• Opa Robby’s Market – Robby and Susan Rigby, aka Opa and Oma, work with Cottle Strawberry Farm to offer delicious strawberries to both Atlanta East and Atlanta West along with TLC’s Farm to Fork.

So go ahead, treat yourself with some fresh strawberries from a local farmer on Market Wagon.

One more quick tip, for best results, after your order is delivered to your front door, put the strawberries immediately in the crisper drawer of your fridge as is, without washing them. You shouldn’t wash strawberries until right before you eat them because water adds moisture to the fruit and makes them spoil faster.

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