Strawberry Nutrition Facts, Calories per Cup and Berry

The garden strawberry sold in stores is a hybrid of two wild species from North and South America, first crossed in Europe in the 1700s. Botanically it is not a true berry: the red flesh is the swollen base of the flower, and each of the tiny "seeds" on the outside is technically a separate fruit, called an achene, with a seed inside.

Unlike bananas or peaches, strawberries do not keep ripening after they are picked. They soften and darken, but they do not get sweeter, so a berry that is pale or white near the cap at the store will stay that way. Small wild and alpine strawberries are a different species; this page covers the common cultivated strawberry.

How you measure strawberries changes the weight in a cup. Whole berries leave gaps, so a cup of sliced berries holds more fruit:

• Whole: 144 g per cup, 46 calories.
• Halves: 152 g per cup, 49 calories.
• Sliced: 166 g per cup, 53 calories.
• Pureed: 232 g per cup, 74 calories.

Unsweetened frozen strawberries are close to fresh. Frozen strawberries packed in sugar or syrup, and strawberries macerated with sugar for shortcake, carry added sugar that this record does not include; add the sugar separately.

Most strawberries are eaten fresh, sliced over cereal, yogurt or salad, or dipped in chocolate. Cooked or processed, they become jam and preserves, pie and tart fillings, sauces for cheesecake and pancakes, and the base of strawberry ice cream and milkshakes. Food manufacturers use strawberry puree in yogurt and drinks, and freeze-dried strawberry pieces in cereal and snack mixes, where the water is removed and the nutrients per gram rise sharply.

• Strawberry shortcake. Sugared sliced strawberries over biscuit or sponge cake with whipped cream. All-Purpose Flour · Butter · Sugar · Heavy Whipping Cream
• Strawberry jam. Strawberries cooked down with sugar, usually with pectin and lemon. Most of its calories come from the added sugar. Sugar
• Chocolate-covered strawberries. Whole berries dipped in melted chocolate and left to set. Chocolate Chips
• Spinach strawberry salad. Baby spinach, sliced strawberries, nuts and a light vinaigrette. Spinach · Walnuts · Goat Cheese · Olive Oil
• Strawberry smoothie. Frozen strawberries blended with banana and yogurt or milk. Banana · Greek Yogurt · Whole Milk
• Strawberry overnight oats. Oats soaked overnight in milk with chia seeds and chopped strawberries. Oats · Chia Seeds · Whole Milk

Strawberries are among the most perishable fruits. Keep them unwashed in the refrigerator, in a single layer if you can, and wash them just before eating, because water on the surface speeds mold. Pull out any soft or moldy berries right away so they do not spread to the rest. To freeze them, wash, hull and dry them, freeze in one layer on a tray, then move them to a bag.

Weigh strawberries after hulling, since USDA's values exclude the caps. For jam, sauces and baked goods, much of the water cooks off, so enter the raw fruit and sugar in the label generator and set the finished batch weight; the recipe nutrition calculator handles that yield. Any sugar you add to the fruit counts as added sugar on the label, while the sugar in the strawberries themselves does not. Fruit products have their own FDA reference amounts, from fresh fruit to jams and spreads, in the RACC lookup.