Professional strawberry cultivation

Strawberries were grown professionally for the first time in what is currently known as the province of South Holland. In the sixteenth century strawberries were frequently grown in the areas around the municipalities Leiden and Delft. In the seventeenth century, strawberries were also grown in West Friesland and around the municipality of Beverwijk. In the eighteenth century, the cultivation area was expanded with Aalsmeer, Boskoop and the Bollenstreek region. In the course of the nineteenth century, strawberry cultivation was moved from Leiden to the Westland region, in particular Loosduinen and Monster. In the early twentieth century, strawberries were also grown around the municipality of Breda and subsequently spread to the southwest.
Initially only the rich could afford to eat strawberries. These were wild and large varieties. Wild strawberries can still be found in Western Europe. In the Netherlands, wild strawberries are commonly found in dune areas and in the south of Limburg, but are becoming rarer. In the Netherlands, the large wild strawberry is only found in the south of Limburg and becoming extremely rare. Bot h varieties are on the so-called Red List of wild plants in the Netherlands.
The current strawberry is the result of a cross-breeding European and American varieties. In 1622, strawberries were imported from California and around 1714 from Chile. American strawberries were hard and sweet, European strawberries were soft and vulnerable. Strawberry growers put many varieties together and produced a large, tasteful, red variety. In the course of time, further cross-breeding resulted in over six hundred different varieties. Currently, Elsanta is the most well-known strawberry variety in the Netherlands.

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