fráoules

Strawberries. The Greek word was derived from the Italian fragola in the 10th century to differentiate strawberries from koumariá or the fruit of the strawberry tree.

The big domestic ones we eat today were first bred in France from plants crossed between strawberries from Chile and North America in the 18th century. Not long afterwards they were cultivated in Greece and elsewhere in the Ottoman empire; in some places they replaced vineyards.

Greece is the world’s eighth largest producer, Manoláda in the Peloponnese is Greece’s main producer, exporting tonness of strawberries grown in huge plastic tunnels between December and May. The treatment of migrants who do most of the labour there remains an issue.