Though the plants themselves are more or less common here in Norway, a large harvest of the wild strawberry (markjordbær) is both time consuming and relatively rare due to their small size and how the berries form on the plant itself. Additionally, not all plants produce berries; the ground must have enough nutrients and the strawberry plants do not like competition. I also have a theory, based on the semi-domesticated plants in our garden, that first year plants seldom produce berries even if the soil conditions are right and they do not have competition.
So how did I pick so many? I'd like to credit my extensive weeding over the last two years and fertilizing the plants with nettle water. Oh yes, and the strawberry plants spread themselves like crazy! Three years ago Rolf bought a dozen starter plants for cheap when our local garden center was closing for the fall. Now we have at least three or four times that.
The easiest way to tell if the berries are ripe is if they are deep red and easily pull off the stem. No resistance. The "smoosh" test can also be of value. Ripe berries are very soft.
Like all berries, individual wild strawberries on a single plant will most likely be at different stages of ripening. This unfortunately means they cannot be picked all at the same time, but since my plants are close to home (literally) I just do the rounds every morning.
Various stages of ripeness can be seen above along with some flowers that survived the fruiting stage. At first the berries are green, then yellow, red with white splotches, then fully red. Overripe berries turn almost purple and either collapse in their own juice or dry out. I usually try and salvage the overripe ones if they are still wet because their taste is sweet and intense.
Another tip when picking them is that the berries often grow under the leaves, close to the ground. Their Norwegian name literally translates to "ground strawberry".
We have a lot of plants, including ones deep under our hedges that do not get much light. And sometimes they have white berries that are ripe! Not as sweet as the reds but equally delicious.
So far this year we have eaten many right off the plants, infused vodka, and added about a pound to a 20 liter batch of rhubarb wine, now wild strawberry-rhubarb wine.
For such small berries, their taste is very strong. It's not at all like the strawberries one can buy in stores, but sweeter and more concentrated. A friend of mine recently likened them to what the artificial strawberry flavor must have been inspired by, i.e. yummy.
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