Southern Living: strawberry leaves edible
- Southern Living reported strawberry leaves are edible and can be blended into pesto, steeped for tea, or mixed into smoothies instead of trashed. - A 2023 Molecules study found strawberry leaves carried 122 times more total polyphenols and 13 times higher antioxidant activity than fruit. - The advice lands as strawberry promotions rise and prices fall 18% from a year earlier. (freshplaza.com)
Strawberry tops do not have to go in the trash: Southern Living says the leaves are edible and can be used in tea, pesto, and smoothies. (southernliving.com) The magazine’s April 2026 piece said the leaves can taste slightly bitter on their own, so they work better when blended with other ingredients or steeped with hot water. (southernliving.com) The nutrition claim behind that advice comes from research on polyphenols, a group of plant compounds studied for antioxidant activity. A 2023 paper in *Molecules* compared strawberry fruit and leaves and found far higher polyphenol levels in the leaves. (mdpi.com) (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) In that study, leaf extracts showed 122-fold higher total polyphenol content and 13-fold higher antioxidant activity than the fruit. The researchers also described strawberry leaves as an underused biomass that is usually discarded. (mdpi.com) A newer 2024 *Molecules* paper called strawberry leaves an agro-industrial waste material with relevant bioactive polyphenol content. That study focused on ways to increase those compounds in leaves, not on home cooking. (mdpi.com) (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The kitchen advice arrives during peak spring strawberry merchandising. FreshPlaza, citing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Retail Report, said total produce ads rose to 256,370 this week, up 4% from 245,848 last week. (freshplaza.com) That same report said strawberries were among the most-promoted items and that advertised prices for 1-pound packages were down 18% from the same week last year. (freshplaza.com) The broader backdrop is tighter pressure on California farmland. American Farmland Trust said in a 2022 report that, if current trends continue, as many as 797,358 acres of California farmland could be converted or compromised by 2040. (farmland.org) For shoppers, the practical takeaway is narrower than the hype: strawberry leaves are edible, but they are not a substitute for the fruit. They are one more part of the berry that can be used while strawberries are cheap and heavily promoted. (southernliving.com) (freshplaza.com)
