The Apple Club Newsletter, Summer 2004, Page 4

In our last newsletter I wrote about old tractors. The ones we used in Holland, and farmers used in Ireland. You remember the names Ford, Massey Ferguson?
This time I will write about the strawberries we grew in Holland, and then in Ireland.
My father grew strawberries as far back as I can remember, and that is 1939! Just before the Second World War.
The fruit variety was a strawberry with the name Madam Fefebre. It was a small sour strawberry. But it ripened before the others, and that was good. As children we began looking for the first ripe fruit at least two weeks before they were ready to eat.
The next variety was Madam Moutot. It was a large soft strawberry and it went bad easily and the slugs loved it too.
The last variety was named Jecunda. This one was not so much for eating fresh but for jam-making. The strawberries were washed and put into big wooden barrels that would hold thousands of them. The strawberries were preserved by adding sulphite.
These were the three main varieties when I was a child. I think they came from France.
After the war new varieties came from Germany but I do not remember their names. The only variety I remember is Senga Sengana. It was a completely red-fleshed strawberry. My father and I had a few acres of them.
Then in the time just before we came to Ireland we grew a lot of Red Gauntlet. It originated in Scotland.
When we came to Ireland we grew Climax, Cambridge Vigour and Cambridge Favourite, but we do not grow these any more. We began to try other varieties like Regina, Elvira and Elsanta. We called Elvira, Daniella, after Dan Hogan from Tipperary. Elsanta is still grown widely in Ireland. New varieties are also being introduced.
Which one tastes the best? It is not easy to tell. If you come to the farm I can tell you more about them and you can taste them for yourselves. Or you could ask Harry O’Brien, our horticultural advisor. But he lives in Carlow and I live here in Moorstown.