{"id":4143,"date":"2020-03-14T10:13:06","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T09:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/why-are-the-strawberries-red\/"},"modified":"2021-07-23T18:05:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T16:05:14","slug":"why-are-the-strawberries-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/why-are-the-strawberries-red\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are the strawberries red?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Plain or sprinkled with sugar, in ice cream or in a compote, strawberries attract us for their semi-sweet, semi-acidulous flavor and their pretty red color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Where does the red color of strawberries come from?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The red color of strawberries comes from a molecule that is found in many fruits and flowers and which is called anthocyanin. Depending on the environment in which it is found, it can give a red color like in strawberries, blue like in blueberries or black like in blackberries.<\/p>\n

It has no smell, but it gives a spicy little taste on the tongue.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"illu1-strawberry_Curiokids\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Strawberries are born green, so how are they turn red when they ripen?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The strawberries at birth are small and green. They gradually grow but remain green. The red color only appears at the end of the ripening process, a few days before being picked. What happens in these strawberries?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the beginning, it is not anthocyanin that is present in strawberries, but a precursor, in other words, a compound which will then transform into anthocyanin.<\/p>\n

This precursor is called anthocyanidin. This molecule is colorless. And so the strawberries stay green because they contain chlorophyll, like the leaves of trees.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Except that at the end of the ripening process, the fruit is enriched with sugar.<\/p>\n

And sugar reacts with anthocyanidin to form anthocyanin, responsible for the red color.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The importance of the red color in the vegetable kingdom?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"illu2-strawberry_Curiokids\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Anthocyanin is present in fruits, but also in vegetables, tree leaves or flowers.<\/p>\n

Raspberry, blood orange, eggplant, grapes, cherries or Okinawa potatoes, all contain varying amounts of anthocyanin. But what is it for?<\/p>\n

In the case of flowers, it would appear that the red\/mauve colors make it easier to attract pollinators.<\/p>\n

While in fruits, their bright color would more easily attract herbivores, which, when eaten, would scatter the seeds into the soil.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Plain or sprinkled with sugar, in ice cream or in a compote, strawberries attract us […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,135,122],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curiokids.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}