ID Guide: Wild Strawberry
Common names: Wild strawberry, alpine strawberry, woodland strawberry
Latin: Fragaria vesca
Appearance: The leaves are glossy and tooth-edged, with long stems that hold small white flowers with five petals. These flowers will lose their petals and turn into the strawberry fruit, which is easily recognisable.
Where: Open grassland, woodland or forest edges.
How to forage: Make sure the fruit looks uniformly red in colour and is firm, then pick it from the stem.
When: They ripen in June and July.
How to use: Wild strawberries are mainly just eaten as they are as a sweet fruit snack. They can of course be used like you would other fruits; in jams and baked goods.
Commonly mistaken with…
Due to its shape and similarities to strawberries found in supermarkets it is not commonly mistaken with any other plant in the wild, particularly in the UK.
However, there is a plant called mock strawberry, found commonly in Asia, which produces similar-looking fruit; it is not harmful but does taste bland!