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You are here: Home / Gardening / Strasberry: What is it, and How Does it Grow?

Strasberry: What is it, and How Does it Grow?

January 2, 2022 by Ashley Adamant 9 Comments

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Strasberies are a unique type of strawberry that tastes like a mix between a strawberry and raspberry.  They’re the product of years of selective breeding, and they’re incredibly hard to find.

Strasberry

Strasberries are in fact a real thing, though they sound like a misspelling of the word strawberry.  They also go by the spelling Straussberry, Strassberry, Strazzberry, and even Framberry, depending on who’s spelling it.

The name helps to explain their unique taste and appearance.  The look (and taste) like a cross between strawberries and raspberries.

With seed dimples reaching deep into the berry, they get a bumpy appearance like raspberries.  Enough selective breeding and they actually taste a bit like raspberries too.

No, you can’t actually cross-breed strawberries and raspberries, they’re two completely different plants.  What you can do is very selectively breed strawberries over a number of generations to bring out unique flavor compounds.

That’s just what German plant breeder Otto Schindler did, and his work was finished in 1925 when he released this unique raspberry-flavored strawberry.  They go by the Latin cultivar name Fragaria × ananassa ‘noMieze Schindler’.

No, they’re not some crazy franken-food.  And no, they’re not GMO.  They’re just a really unique strawberry variety that’s really hard to find.

Strasberry Cut Open

How do I know they’re really hard to find?  Because I’ve been trying all week!

This year is going to be the year of the strawberry on our homestead, and I’m hoping to grow literally dozens of unique varieties.

Why?

First, my kids eat an incredible amount of strawberries, and the more I can grow the better.  They’re up to $10 a pound at the grocery store (thanks to inflation) and that’s for those flavorless, rock-hard supermarket berries.  I bet the nice local ones will top $10 a pint this year.

We already grow 4 different types of strawberries, both standard June bearing, and everbearing strawberries, and we harvest wild strawberries from the edge of the woods all summer long.  This year I started researching unique strawberry varieties to add to our garden, and I came across quite a few!

We’re planning to add:

  • Alpine Strawberries ~ Tiny, delicate fruits and incredible flavor.  They come in red, yellow, and white varieties.
  • Pineberries ~ A white-fleshed strawberry with dark red seeds that tastes like pineapple. 
  • Musk Strawberries ~ A European native strawberry that grows wild from Norway to Italy.  The plants come in male and female varieties, and you need a male to pollinate the females.  They taste like a mix of strawberry, raspberry, and pineapple.

I was able to find pineberries at Stark Brothers Nursery, but they were quite expensive ($20 each).  I found a better deal on them as bare-root plants from Amazon.  Multiple varieties of Alpine strawberry and Musk Strawberry are available from Raintree Nursery.  Just about all of them are quite hardy, and most will withstand zone 4 winters (some even zone 3).

Try as I might, I was not able to find anywhere that would ship strasberry plants. 

We grow strawberries from seed, but unfortunately, strasberries are not self-fertile and must cross-pollinate with regular strawberries.  That means their seeds won’t breed true, and will have a mix of characteristics from both.  You should be skeptical or anyone trying to sell strawberry seeds online, not that there is anyone doing that at this point anyway. 

Where to Buy Strasberry Plants and Seeds

So where can you get strasberries?

I was able to find a few sources for strasberry plants in the Pacific Northwest, a couple of sources in the UK, and a few more in Australia.  I imagine you can also get them in Germany as that’s where they were developed.

In the Pacific Northwest of the US, you can buy them for local pickup only at:

  • Bremerton City Nursery (Bremerton, WA)
  • Molbak’s Garden and Home (Woodinville, WA)

In the UK, you can find them at:

  • Farmer Gracy Online
  • Jameson Brothers Nursery
  • Amazon UK

In Australia, they’re available at:

  • United Plant Nursery
  • Werribee Park Heritage Orchard
  • Grow It Local

If you know of another source for either strasberry plants or seeds, please do let me know in the comments. 

And second, if you happen to live near any of these sources and would be willing to buy them and ship them to me, I’d really appreciate it.  I’ll cover the cost, and send you something nice as a thank you.

Growing Strasberries

If you are able to find them, strasberries are not self-fertile.  They need to be grown near regular or everbearing strawberry varieties.  All you need is a few regular ones mixed in your patch, ideally about a foot away (30 cm).

Beyond that, you can grow them just like regular strawberries.

Unique Fruit Varieties

Looking for more unique fruit varieties?  We grow quite a few on our homestead, and we add more any chance we can get!

  • How to Grow Honeyberries (Haskaps)
  • How to Grow Lingonberries
  • How to Grow Salmonberries
  • How to Grow Shipova

What are Strasberries

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa

    January 28, 2022 at 9:04 am

    Hi, someone in Australia says he has managed to breed strawberry and raspberry plants.

    He seems like a reputable guy. Just thought you might be interested. Lisa

    http://living-mudflower.blogspot.com/2019/02/strawberry-x-raspberry-intergeneric.html

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      January 28, 2022 at 9:09 pm

      Wow! That’s crazy, I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but you learn something new everyday =)

      Thank you so much for sharing.

      Reply
    • Yuri

      June 25, 2022 at 6:11 am

      Apparently they had their plants tested by the CSIRO and it was confirmed that they are hybrids. That’s pretty crazy. https://living-mudflower.blogspot.com/2021/05/strawberry-raspberry-hybrids-test.html

      Reply
  2. Jenetta

    January 28, 2022 at 5:18 pm

    Hi, I actually live very close to Molbaks nursery. I can definitely check their stock and buy some strasberries for you if you’d like. Thanks for the article highlighting them! I’ve never heard of them before and now I’ll have to try growing some!

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      January 28, 2022 at 9:10 pm

      Awesome! Sending you an email.

      Reply
  3. Bethany

    January 28, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    I also live near Molbak’s so will have to check it out! Let me know if you still need someone to grab some for you there. I don’t know anything about shipping plants though so would need tips!

    Reply
  4. Helen Knight

    January 30, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    Hi Ashley, I have really learned a new thing! Thank you for sharing this information that made me crazy to eat STRAWBERRIES. I feel like eating this fruit to check how tasty it is actually.

    Reply
    • Administrator

      January 31, 2022 at 6:32 pm

      You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the post.

      Reply
  5. Elena

    March 20, 2022 at 12:13 am

    Thank you for the information. I’ve been trying to get this type of strawberries for many years. I loved them in Europe and want to plant in the USA. Please contact me everyone who can ship them to me, please!

    Reply

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I’m an off-grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self-reliant. Read More…

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