Object: Wild Strawberry

In 17th century New Netherland, wild strawberries –both the Fragaria virginiana or Virginia Strawberry, and the Fragaria vesca, or Woodland Strawberry– grew abundantly in the regions along the East Coast. Both species yielded small, very sweet and aromatic berries. They were much in demand in the kitchens of New Amsterdam and Long Iland, where Nicassius de Sille denotes them as “weeds” because they are so plentiful: "the weeds consist mostly of strawberries, catnip and blackberries."  The strawberries reminded the Dutch of their own Woodland strawberries varieties in their home kitchens, as borne out by 17th-century recipes.

The popularity of the strawberry extends to 17th-century art: several Dutch still lifes, such as Adriaen Coorte, Still Life with Wild Strawberries, from the period depict the fruit in all its delicate texture and brightly glistening surface. Later in the century, it was the Virginia strawberry that the Dutch would take back to Holland, ultimately setting the stage for the cultivation of the much larger sized strawberries we are familiar with today.

Strawberries were also much appreciated in contemporary medicine, may have been growing in the Kierstede’s medicinal garden in New Amsterdam and certainly were used in Hans Kierstede’s apothecary. Native Americans considered the strawberry a sacred plant and there were age-old traditions involving strawberries; the fruit was picked fresh from the land, or in enjoyed in dried form during the winter months. Strawberries also were appreciated for their important medicinal properties and used as a general health tonic, to purify the blood and to treat digestive issues.