Strawberry

I wear a little green hat and a bright red coat. My coat has tiny yellow dots all over it. I love to hide in sunny gardens, close to the warm ground. When you pick me and take a bite, I taste so sweet, like sunshine in your mouth. Can you guess who I am? I am the Strawberry. It is so nice to meet you.

A very, very long time ago, my family was super small. People who lived in a place called ancient Rome, way back around 200 BCE, would find my tiny cousins hiding in the woods. They were a yummy treat. But then, my family went on a big trip. One of my cousins sailed on a big boat from North America. Another cousin traveled all the way from a country called Chile. They met in a sunny garden in France in the 1750s. The busy bees flew from one flower to the other, sharing pollen like a friendly game of tag. And poof. I was born. I was a new kind of strawberry, bigger and juicier and sweeter than all my cousins before me.

After I was born in that special garden, friendly gardeners helped me travel all over the big, wide world. Now, you can find me everywhere, making food happy and bright. I am the red swirl in your yogurt. I am the sweet surprise on top of your birthday cake. I love being a yummy, healthy snack that makes you smile a big, red smile. Every time you eat a sweet berry, you are tasting a little bit of my happy story.