This is a big weekend in Canada. Victoria Day only occurs in a few Commonwealth countries and has been observed since 1845. It was declared an official holiday in 1901 in Canada, the year of her death. There is a Canadian sense that summer unofficially begins on this weekend. We are lucky this year that the Ontario Premier recognized this and opened the golf courses. Ontario seemed to be the only place in the world that had them closed due to COVID.
Victoria Day seems a quaint and pleasant sort of milestone to have for the start of summer. This year, it coincides with our strawberry season. While Ontario strawberries are at their peak in June and July, they've started ripening early. We think of strawberries as a small fruit, but the biggest recorded strawberry was grown in Fukuoka, Japan and weighed 250 grams and was 3 inches tall. It looks like about 10 or so strawberries clustered together. The picture shows the strawberry and the grower's daughter, who proceeded to eat it - that was in 2015, and it broke a record set by the UK.
There are lots of records around strawberry shortcake, but the record that got my attention is: the most strawberries squashed with a skateboard in 10 seconds. It is notable because only one person in the world could possibly think of doing this.
Strawberries started as a native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. I don't know if strawberries are grown in every climate zone of the world, but it seems to me this is the case now. The U.S. used to be the world leading producer of strawberries, followed by Turkey. Now it is China, followed by the U.S., Mexico, Egypt and then Turkey.
Here's my favourite strawberry picture - these are giant fabric strawberries that were hanging from the tent ceiling at Hildreth's Gard market a few years ago. I got this picture when they were perfectly ripe.
