Strawberry Fields Forgotten

This spring I rescued a strawberry plant that had been forgotten in a neglected garden bed. I selectively shoveled out some very healthy grass that had reached the saturation point we know as turf. To my delight the strawberry plant flushed out with large glossy new leaves and a small fortune of dainty flowers. But just as fruit began to set, a construction project was slated adjacent to my resurrected strawberry plant. Rather than risk death by trampling, I opted for transplantation. After many weepy days, turgor pressure finally returned. But something didn't appear right -- the multitude of fruit were not ripening. Or so it seemed. It took me a while to realize this, in fact, was a yellow-fruiting strawberry plant.

If you've never tasted a yellow strawberry, you are missing out. They are a form of alpine strawberry. Alpine strawberries have small, but tastier fruits than traditional strawberries. The volume of fruit produced by alpine strawberry plants can never compare with the more productive traditional strawberry plants, so you are unlikely to find alpine strawberries in a grocery store. Yellow alpine strawberries taste like pineapple, and lack the acidity of regular strawberries. Riper fruits taste almost like bananas, which I personally do not prefer, but I have a cat who loves banana flavor and she loves these strawberries.