Warning About Strawberries

[bluejeangirl]

I was reading blogs the other day from people who are gluten free or celiacs. I usually gain insights or get good recipes from them.

I read about a bad reaction someone got from eating strawberries. She had a horrible reaction and found out the strawberries were grown on straw beds. Lightbulb moment, I've been getting pain eating strawberries too but just figured it was because fruits will do that being high in acid and seeds. My son or husband picks them and they told me they were also on straw.

I read the deffinition of straw and its an agricultural by product, the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yied of a cereal crop such as barley, oats, rice, rye, or wheat.

And I doubt that it was rice since they don't grow rice here in the mid west.

I guess the soil under strawberries is covered with straw to protect the ripe berries from dirt. It keeps them clean and keeps them from rotting. Straw is used in cucumber houses (?) and for mushroom growing.

So there you go there's more then one reason you can get diarrhea from strawberries.

Gail

[burdee]

Strawberries are easy to grow in a small garden space or even in a patio or deck pot. If you grow your own, you can choose not to cover the ground under them with straw. I just check my strawberries daily to prop them up on their leaves, so they don't get soggy. Then I wash them thoroughly before eating. However, some people also have strawberry allergies.

BURDEE

[whitball]

wow! I learn something new everyday! I thought that I was having an allergic reaction to strawberries. My mouth tingles and becomes raw.

[Crystalkd]

That explains alot. I'm feeling better but still not right. I could be the stawberries. Interesting. I'm starting to think that maybe I need to start my own garden although I really hate yard work!

[burdee]

If you leave some strawberries outside, the birds will plant them for you! LOL I planted a few strawberries in a designated garden several years ago. Now I have strawberry plants coming up in places I never dreamed (or intended) that I would see strawberries. They need very little 'yard work' care, if you have decent soil. They prefer acid and well drained soil, but will even grow in rocky areas or a large pot on a deck. Their main requirements are water, good drainage and lots of sun. Good luck!

BURDEE

[SunnyDyRain]

  whitball said:

wow! I learn something new everyday! I thought that I was having an allergic reaction to strawberries. My mouth tingles and becomes raw.

That sounds like an Oral Allergy. Do you have allergies to some plants? (mold, tree pollen, ragweed) I have that problem with cantalope and honeydew, it's not actually to that plant, it's a cross allergy from ragweed. Your body thinks it's the allergen, and starts to react. I don't usally have a problem unless I eat concentrated amounts, or recently had an attack.

[Phyllis28]

California Strawberries should be safe. Most of the strawberries in the US are grown in California. Below is the e-mail I received from the California Strawberry Commisssion. When I was in Missouri the strawberries I bought were clearly marked as being grown in Watsonville, California.

Answer

Dear Phyllis:

It should be safe for you to eat California strawberries since almost

all the strawberries produced here are grown in an annual production

system and no straw is used. Instead, strawberry growers use a plastic

mulch system to control weeds and due to the moderate climate we have

along the coast where most of the strawberries are produced, no straw

mulching is necessary to protect the plants during the winter.

Dan

Dan Legard

Director of Research

California Strawberry Commission

office 831-724-1301

mobile 831-334-3042

dlegard@calstrawberry.org

www.calstrawberry.com

e-mail to:

Subject: California growing practices. Are the plants covered with straw for the

winter

I am on a gluten free diet. Even small amounts of gluten will make me

ill. It has come to my attention that stawberry plants are in colder

parts of the country are covered with straw (which contains wheat

gluten) for the winter and the straw will remain nestling the next

seasons strawberries. Is this the practice when growing California

Strawberries? Thank you for your time.

[blueeyedmanda]

Thank You for sharing your response, Phyllis

[Janeti]

  whitball said:

wow! I learn something new everyday! I thought that I was having an allergic reaction to strawberries. My mouth tingles and becomes raw.

what do you mean that your mouth becomes raw? i am asking because sometimes the top of my mouth feels like it was scraped on something, and i was wondering why that was happening. also. sometimes when i eat, the top of my head tingles? even the neurologist couldn't figure that one out...what do you think?

[pele]

  bluejeangirl said:

I was reading blogs the other day from people who are gluten free or celiacs. I usually gain insights or get good recipes from them.

I read about a bad reaction someone got from eating strawberries. She had a horrible reaction and found out the strawberries were grown on straw beds. Lightbulb moment, I've been getting pain eating strawberries too but just figured it was because fruits will do that being high in acid and seeds. My son or husband picks them and they told me they were also on straw.

I read the deffinition of straw and its an agricultural by product, the dry stalk of a cereal plant, after the nutrient grain or seed has been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yied of a cereal crop such as barley, oats, rice, rye, or wheat.

And I doubt that it was rice since they don't grow rice here in the mid west.

I guess the soil under strawberries is covered with straw to protect the ripe berries from dirt. It keeps them clean and keeps them from rotting. Straw is used in cucumber houses (?) and for mushroom growing.

So there you go there's more then one reason you can get diarrhea from strawberries.

Gail

I know it has been a while since this topic came up. I am reviving it as we approach strawberry season.

Last year in June I had been gluten free for about 3 months. The local U-pick strawberry places use straw, and the strawberries gave me D, so I quit eating them, but already had a few bags of berries for off season use. I tried a few around Christmas time when my digestive tract was in shambles. The strawberries made me sick.

Fast forward to the present. I have been doing much better overall- result of a round of antibiotics followed by probiotics, digestive enzymes, the Specific Carb Diet since the end of March, and now dairy free for 6 days. Yesterday I ate 4 frozen strawberries as an experiment. The result sure felt like gluten poisoning. I had the characteristic (for me) insomnia and felt like a cement truck was parked in my gut. There is no possibility that I contacted gluten anywhere else since I am on a ridiculously strict diet and preparing all of my own food.

I find it incredible that strawberries could contain gluten from lying on Rye straw. Has anyone ever checked this out? Could a strawberry allergy feel just like getting glutenized? It seems I am not the only one this has happened to.

[ksymonds84]

  pele said:

I know it has been a while since this topic came up. I am reviving it as we approach strawberry season.

Thank you for bringing up this thread because I have been intolerant to strawberries for years and never thought of a gluten reaction to growing through straw etc. Mine is geographical tounge right away and if too much my tounge will swell and really hurt. (the last time I ate them about 8 years ago I couldn't talk for 3 days because my tounge hurt so much!) Maybe there is a connection. Thanks again, worth looking at.

[sneezydiva]

  pele said:

.

I find it incredible that strawberries could contain gluten from lying on Rye straw. Has anyone ever checked this out? Could a strawberry allergy feel just like getting glutenized? It seems I am not the only one this has happened to.

Yes, any food allergy or intolerance can mimic glutening symptoms including digestive symtpoms. Strawberries are a VERY common food allergy. If you have any swelling or tingling of the mouth and/or tongue this is most definitely an allergic reaction.

[pele]

Yes, the mouth and tongue symptoms match the descriptions of strawberry allergy found on various websites. I had no mouth symptoms at all but I am reluctant to try strawberries again because I sure didn't get much sleep last night.

Here's a link to a really scary article about coating strawberries with wheat gluten to extend shelf life:

Open Original Shared Link

The article comes from Brazil. I wonder if Brazilian strawberries are exported to US markets.

[MDRB]

  whitball said:

wow! I learn something new everyday! I thought that I was having an allergic reaction to strawberries. My mouth tingles and becomes raw.

I have the exact same reaction to strawberries and some other things, but this is only the case when they are raw, strawberry jams or bits of strawberries in muffins etc are fine, I don't get this reaction from them.

[VioletBlue]

Sigh . . . I'm a believer now. I hate this. I hate hate hate this.

I normally buy strawberries from the grocery store. The last couple times I bought some from the organic store who gets them from a small organic grower. I bought a batch yesterday. I was violently ill last night. My glutening symptoms have been getting worse the longer I'm gluten free. I've been gluten-free for 18 months now. The last accidental glutening produced nausea and diahreah. Last night was just ugly. I was praying for death there at one point. But it's not food poisoning because it came and went quickly. It's not a bug, vomitting and a stomach ache were my only issues last night and I'm physically fine this morning. I'm really spacey and fogging now though, and angry. The only thing it could have possibly been was the strawberries. I had a pot roast and rice for dinner. All made by me in a gluten free kitchen with gluten free ingredients. Desert was ice cream with strawberries on it. I washed them good before I cut them up, but apparently that's not going to do it.

I am so tired of having options taken away from me. I don't dare trust strawberries now, not after last nights reaction. That wasn't an allergic reaction to strawberries, that had to have been a gluten reaction.

[A-Swiss]

Honestly, I bought a house with a small strawberry patch and it has taken over about 30 square feet. I have to take a weed-whacker to the things after a few months because they crawl out of everywhere! If you want to just avoid the issue - grow your own. I have never once had to do anything to them (even water them). Does that help when you are eating out? No. Seems rather foolish to bring your own ingrediants to the party, LOL!

[pele]

  VioletBlue said:

Sigh . . . I'm a believer now. I hate this. I hate hate hate this.

I normally buy strawberries from the grocery store. The last couple times I bought some from the organic store who gets them from a small organic grower. I bought a batch yesterday. I was violently ill last night. My glutening symptoms have been getting worse the longer I'm gluten free. I've been gluten-free for 18 months now. The last accidental glutening produced nausea and diahreah. Last night was just ugly. I was praying for death there at one point. But it's not food poisoning because it came and went quickly. It's not a bug, vomitting and a stomach ache were my only issues last night and I'm physically fine this morning. I'm really spacey and fogging now though, and angry. The only thing it could have possibly been was the strawberries. I had a pot roast and rice for dinner. All made by me in a gluten free kitchen with gluten free ingredients. Desert was ice cream with strawberries on it. I washed them good before I cut them up, but apparently that's not going to do it.

I am so tired of having options taken away from me. I don't dare trust strawberries now, not after last nights reaction. That wasn't an allergic reaction to strawberries, that had to have been a gluten reaction.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. I have a couple of bags of lovely, delicious frozen strawberries that I don't dare eat. My reaction also felt like gluten, not an allergy. When I picked them I asked if straw was used and she told me rye straw. I stupidly thought that was okay, since it wasn't wheat straw which common around here. But rye is a gluten grain (duh). There is a lot of rye straw around, too, and whenever a bale gets left out in the rain it sprouts like mad, so I guess some of the seed heads are in the bale, although straw is suposed to be the stalks left after the grain is threshed out.

I have plenty of room to grow my own strawberries, but right now I never want to eat one again!

[lucy lou]

  VioletBlue said:

Sigh . . . I'm a believer now. I hate this. I hate hate hate this.

I normally buy strawberries from the grocery store. The last couple times I bought some from the organic store who gets them from a small organic grower. I bought a batch yesterday. I was violently ill last night. My glutening symptoms have been getting worse the longer I'm gluten free. I've been gluten-free for 18 months now. The last accidental glutening produced nausea and diahreah. Last night was just ugly. I was praying for death there at one point. But it's not food poisoning because it came and went quickly. It's not a bug, vomitting and a stomach ache were my only issues last night and I'm physically fine this morning. I'm really spacey and fogging now though, and angry. The only thing it could have possibly been was the strawberries. I had a pot roast and rice for dinner. All made by me in a gluten free kitchen with gluten free ingredients. Desert was ice cream with strawberries on it. I washed them good before I cut them up, but apparently that's not going to do it.

I am so tired of having options taken away from me. I don't dare trust strawberries now, not after last nights reaction. That wasn't an allergic reaction to strawberries, that had to have been a gluten reaction.

[lucy lou]

Strawberries are one of my favorite foods! I had some yesterday in a salad and have been very careful to be gluten free, but this afternoon I had a spell. Is it possible I reacted 24 hrs later? I have been racking my brain, because the only other thought I had was my sampling of 2 potato chips that were salt & vinegar flavored.

[tom]

  Phyllis28 said:

California Strawberries should be safe. Most of the strawberries in the US are grown in California. Below is the e-mail I received from the California Strawberry Commisssion. When I was in Missouri the strawberries I bought were clearly marked as being grown in Watsonville, California.

(Just noticed this was from last year)

Glad you contacted them and posted this Phyllis.

I'm not far from Watsonville and used to live much closer. I was *sure* I'd never seen straw in the fields there.

In some spots it can look like <cue music> Strawberry Fields Forever.

TriviaTime!!! Nearby Castroville crowned Marilyn Monroe Artichoke Queen when she was still Norma Jean.

[Phyllis28]

  tom said:

(Just noticed this was from last year)

Glad you contacted them and posted this Phyllis.

I'm not far from Watsonville and used to live much closer. I was *sure* I'd never seen straw in the fields there.

In some spots it can look like <cue music> Strawberry Fields Forever.

That's what prompted me to contact them. I had never seen straw in the strawberry fields in Southern CA or on any of my trips to the Santa Cruz/Watsonville area in Northern CA. Based on the other websites I looked at, straw is sometimes used in the colder sections of the country over the winter to keep the plants warm.

[ShayFL]

That straw would just turn to mold here in Florida. So our strawberries should be good. CA wouldnt need the straw either. So I will stick to these two sources.

[VioletBlue]

There in lies the rub with ORGANIC growers. They prefer ORGANIC solutions. If you can guarantee your strawberries came from a nice commercial grower who uses plastic you'll be fine. I'm not willing to gamble anymore.

  ShayFL said:

That straw would just turn to mold here in Florida. So our strawberries should be good. CA wouldnt need the straw either. So I will stick to these two sources.