Reintroducing the Marshall Strawberry | Civil Eats

Reintroducing the Marshall Strawberry

Five years ago, Slow Foods’ “Most Endangered Foods” list included the Marshall Strawberry. The fruit, known as the finest eating strawberry in America by the James Beard Foundation, is a deep, dark, red, with an exceptionally bold flavor. After World War II, the Marshall was devastated by viruses and has been left out of conventional supermarket supply chains due to its soil specifications and the delicate handling it requires.

The fruit is so soft, in fact, that it leaves a trail of juice when harvested and moved from the fields. This makes the Marshall difficult to ship and store, but oh-so-good to eat. But Indiana-based artist Leah Gauthier does not believe that the absence of the Marshall in grocery stores means we can’t enjoy it, and her strawberry project introduces a new philosophy of produce distribution.

The Marshall Strawberry was all but phased out in the 1960s, but there is a renewed sense of interest in not only reviving heirloom horticultural varietals, but in investing in improving the taste of fruits and vegetables. A focus on the strawberry in food publications (including Civil Eats) is proof of the popularity of this bright little fruit, and the extent to which we will go to make sure it remains in our food supply.

Strawberries have become a focal point for a wide intersection of food system discussions, many of them targeting health – the health of workers that handle strawberries, the health of the soil that grows them, and the nutrient content of the strawberries themselves.

For years methyl bromide was the chosen fumigant for strawberries, but as it was found to deplete the ozone layer, an international treaty required its phase out by 2005. Its replacement was methyl iodide, which quickly also became controversial. After a peer-reviewed study focused on the chemical indicated that as a neurotoxin it could cause thyroid cancer and brain damage, the Department of Pesticide Regulation published acceptable exposure levels that were 120 times higher than recommended by its own scientists in the study.

Pesticides used in conjunction with methyl iodide, like Chloropicrin, were found in the air near virtually all of the farming operations conducted by Driscoll’s, the largest strawberry distributor in the country. When the Tokyo-based Arysta LifeScience Corps. announced in March 2012 that it was withdrawing methyl iodide from the U.S. market, strawberry growers and eaters alike were shocked. It turns out the company was on the verge of losing a major lawsuit over the chemical.

However, strawberries are so delicate that they are especially vulnerable to pests and viruses. Without methyl iodide and other conventional pesticides, strawberry production needs to change course. A few small projects to revitalize the Marshall strawberry have come and gone since the species was first discovered in 1883. Gauthier has taken it upon herself to reintroduce the Marshall Strawberry to the public and present it as something new: a project integrating growing, eating, urban agriculture, and cultural identity.

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In 2007, she requested a few plants from the USDA’s Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Oregon, the site of the three remaining Marshall Strawberry plants. Those last plants have grown into the hundreds strawberry runners that Gauthier will be releasing this season. Her Marshall Strawberry Pop-Up Shop allows customers to purchase runners from the plants that she began reviving six years ago.

The delicacy of the strawberry, she explains, is both a blessing and a curse. While its fragility means it can never be shipped thousands of miles and sold a few weeks after being harvested, it also means that in order to enjoy the strawberry, it has to be eaten locally.

“It is truly a local agricultural product,” Gauthier says. “You really have to enjoy it where it is grown, which means a lot of people have to participate.” She aims to distribute the Marshall to growers and eaters who will in turn distribute even more runners to friends and family. The end goal, she says, is that her role in the project will become obsolete, and the Marshall will grow in numbers through an informal, grassroots network of strawberry lovers.

The unstructured distribution that Gauthier has established with the Marshall offers an alternative to the supermarket model. While she is working to revive a forgotten heirloom varietal, the project also blurs the line separating the consumers from the producers. Participants in the Marshall project are one and the same.

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Arielle Golden is focusing on young farmer stories for Civil Eats. She graduated in 2010 from Wesleyan University and spent the following year living in India, working on issues of food security for women and children. Her projects included a report encouraging government supplemental food programs to take local economies and cultural appropriateness into account. She returned to the U.S. with a reinvigorated sense of hope about fixing our national food system. Arielle has written for the Nourishing the Planet project at the Worldwatch Institute and Global Circle, and loves crafting, cooking for pleasure, being outside, and braving new adventures. Follow her on Twitter: @airgolden0. Read more >

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  1. JT
    Arielle, I don't believe the Marshall strawberry was down to just three plants. That may have been all the USDA Corvallis repository had, but dedicated Northwest gardeners and small-scale farmers have also kept this remarkable strawberry alive. In my city of Bellingham, WA, Marshall strawberry starts are available in the Farmers' market during the Spring. I have a half-dozen in my own backyard.

    One other small quibble: the Marshall is not a unique strawberry species, it is a variety. But the berries are every bit as spectacular in fragrance and taste as the article suggests. Thank you for calling attention to this wonderful legacy fruit.
  2. It is very difficult to grow strawberries on a large scale without using poisons and plastic. But it's not difficult to grow enough for a family (or even a few familes), using natural practices. Glad to see this old berry making a comeback.
  3. Hi JT,

    That was the official story back in 2006. Since then i understand over the years Corvalis has sent out a number of runners and has been working with the Bainbridge Island Historical Society and local farmers. Perhaps the revival in your area and availability is due to their good work?

    Sincerely, Leah
  4. Margaret Thorson
    When I was a kid in the 40's near Puyallup, WA my parents grew acres of Marshall strawberries. After they went out of the business we grew them in the home garden as long as we could get plants. I remember my Mother mourning their loss and trying other strawberries over and over again to find something as good. She was never satisfied.
  5. Quite true, every year the Bainbridge Island Historical Society has made a limited number of Marshall strawberry starts available to those who request them. This was once the dominant strawberry variety grown on the island (largely) by Japanese farmers prior to WWII and was well known nationwide as the berries were sugared and shipped in wooden barrels from the island.
  6. 99bonk
    I grew up in England, and in the 1930s and 40s there was a strawberry variety called Royal Sovereign which was like a Platonic ideal of a strawberry - unfortunately, prone to every known strawberry disease, didn't travel well, etc., so only available to people who were willing to take up the challenge of growing it in their own backyards, which many did. However, a recent web search leads me to believe that it may have disappeared altogether, which would be very sad. I hope someone on this website may be interested in finding out if it still exists in some obscure corner of the world...
  7. Maggie
    Is it still possible to purchase a Marshall strwberry plant?
  8. Marvin Stadeli
    How do i order Marshall strawberry plants from you..,I remember as kid in the 50s in Silverton Oregon pickup Marshall on my grandparents strawberry..Oh how miss the taste of those marhalls..
    Marvin Stadeli 503-999-2225 cell
  9. Kerri Barrientos
    Arielle Golden
    Hi my name is Kerri. My family is from central Oregon. My mother is WWII era Oregonian bride, she remembers very well the Marshall Strawberry: My grandmother grew them. She testifies as your website indicates, it being the best flavor out of any and fragile. Mom is newly widowed and going strong for 91+ . We are a family who gardens and she recently talked of this prized berry to me as we reminisced of good ol days and gardens. Since that day, I have been on a mission; as also share your interest and curiosity. I am wanting to experience this fruit. I found your site dated 2013 on the internet.
    Mom talks of this strawberry and I would love to find a start for her as she has a small garden and we oversee everything. She deserves to experience as many loves as we can possibly give: touch, smell, taste this wonderful strawberry; is so anticipated before anything takes her. Just In Case!
    I hope this message makes its way to you and you reply.
    Please am I able to purchase a start of the Marshall Berry to grow. I will be contacting OSU and the Repository also.
    Thank You so very much for what you do for extinct true Heirlooms.
  10. Tana L Pender
    I am looking for a Marshall strawberry plant to purchase. Can you direct me? Thank you.
    Tana Pender
    • Lopez Hill Farm
      I have been cultivating a small patch since 1965 on Lopez Island. Every time we moved we took starts with us. It is interesting to read that they are a heirloom berry. You may contact me.
      Debbi
      arnott@centurytel.net
  11. Karyn
    I am looking for a place to purchase some of these strawberries. I live in Utah and these used to be a huge crop in our town, however none are grown here now. We have an annual strawberry days festival. I would love to help re-introduce the original strawberry that the town is know for!

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