Almost every product I see with “tropical” in the name, has a picture of strawberries on the label. They grow abundantly here in Tennessee, so I don’t think of them as being tropical.
They’re growing nicely now here in Wisconsin. We’re halfway between the North Pole and the equator.
Hmm - they grow in Britain too, so that would tend strongly to indicate that they are not tropical! 
How odd.
And now I am hungry!
Strawberries are cosmopolitan and apparently have been for a long, long time. Probably because they are so easily dispersed by birds. Cato mentioned them in 2nd century B.C.E. Rome. They were found growing wild in both North and South America when the first explorers landed ( they were mentioned being found in Quebec in 1534 and in Virginia in 1588 ).
Where the original center of diversity was, I have no idea and it’s not clear anyone else does either.
- Tamerlane
In the U.S., “tropical,” as a gardening term, refers to USDA Climate zones 10 and 11. Strawberries can grow as far north as zones 2 or 3.
Cultivated strawberrries are a hybred of wild North american strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) and the South American Strawberry. So you can say, those fat, juicy store-bought strawberries are a “half tropical” fruit.
Hmmm…Appears there is a threatened species of wild strawberry in Tajikistan of all places.
- Tamerlane
Endangered? Eek! Save Our Strawberries! Strawbery Fields Forever!
Definitely not.
Edible strawberries will, in general, not grow (or at least will not produce good fruit) in the tropics. They need some cool weather. For example, in Congo (Kinshasa) they are only grown in Kivu (which, although on the equator, has mountains high enough for glaciers) and in a place near the coast that is, for some reason, relatively cool. A great many good-to-eat things will not grow in the tropics because they require some cool weather (e.g., most citrus).
They are a temperate fruit aren’t they?
My mom grew strawberries at home when she was a kid in Hawaii. So if Hawaii’s tropical, then I guess yeah, they’re tropical. Keep in mind I have no idea how well they grew…
Personally, I haven’t seen many “tropical” products with strawberries on them-- it’s been mostly bananas, citrus fruits, mangoes, and papayas. Could it be that strawberries are there on the label because of the imagery they elicit? Strawberries smell good and are refreshing, and so maybe the product was hoping for some of that association?
thought you’d like to know: they’re growing just ducky here in south east pennsylvania…though a bit smaller this year…
just to throw in my two cents…if i ever see anything wit a “tropical” label, it usually has a Carmen Miranda lookalike along with (not to be confused with the exclusive Chiquita Banana woman) or a young hawaiian girl with a pineapple (no matter what fruit the tropical label is featured on, there is always a pineapple…go figure)
How would that make them even ‘half’ tropical? - not all of South America is tropical.
Sure, if you crush 'em up and spread 'em on your skin… Oh! TRopical! Well, my 2p would have to be that I saw strawberries being grown in Venezuela along side other traditionally “tropical” fruit. So if the pineapple is considered tropical, strawberries can be, too, as far as I’m concerned.
My ears perked up at the mention of Venezuela. I ate “tropical” (why the quotes??) fruit every day. I had mango, manga, parchita, lechosa, y otras frutas, but never did I see a strawberry.
My two pence worth - strawberries aren’t fruits, their drupes. Pineapples aren’t fruits, you eat the stalk of the plant.
You could define fruits (and drupes) as that part of a plant designed to be eaten by animals to aid dipsersal of the seeds. So that includes avocados and tomatoes but excludes pineapples. Vegetables are part of the plant that the plant doesn’t want eaten by animals, but we eat them anyway. That includes pineapples but excludes tomatoes.
Botanically, fruits are the swollen ovary of the plant, drupes are the swollen receptacle (that bit of the plant on which the ovaries sit).
You sure about that; I thought drupes were things like cherries and peaches.
I have just checked on drupes. It seems my university botany classes were a complete waste of time. Apologies to all for the misinformation.
I have just checked on drupes. It seems my university botany classes were a complete waste of time. Apologies to all for the misinformation.
Now I have to track down what the term is for a fruit made from the swollen receptacle of a plant.
The Straight Dope on classification of fruit: