Strawberry

Why strawberry is rated low

Strawberries test low at 5 berries (60g), and the record lists no raised FODMAP subgroup for them, so there is no particular carbohydrate here to work around. That one rung is also the only serving tested, which is worth being straight about: amounts above it have not been measured, so they are untested rather than known to be fine. What the data supports is a real, everyday serving of strawberries at 5 berries (60g), and a bowl built well past that is simply outside what has been published.

What changes your risk

• One tested serving, and that is the reference 5 berries (60g) is the published low serving for strawberries. Larger helpings are not tested here, so there is no bigger amount that has been shown to hold, and the sensible move is to portion against that figure.
• Berry size varies enormously five small supermarket strawberries and five of the huge hothouse kind are not remotely the same weight. When the two halves of a serving disagree, the gram figure is the reliable one.
• Stacking across the meal no subgroup is recorded for strawberries, so what accumulates is the meal's total FODMAP load. A serving of strawberries in a smoothie that also holds two other fruits, followed by more fruit later in the day, is a different proposition from the same berries on their own.
• Dried strawberries are concentrated taking the water out leaves everything else behind in a much smaller piece, so dried and freeze dried strawberries pack far more into far less. Nothing in the tested serving carries across to them.
• Jam, syrup and strawberry flavoured products cooking does not destroy FODMAPs, so the fruit cooked into a jam is still in the jar, along with whatever sweetened it. Strawberry syrups and strawberry flavoured sweets are worth reading, since anything sweetened with sorbitol, xylitol or high fructose corn syrup brings its own problem that has nothing to do with the berry.

What else works

Strawberries are already one of the easier fruits to keep in rotation, and they pair naturally with others that test low at their own published servings: blueberries, raspberries, grapes, oranges, mandarins, kiwi, pineapple and cantaloupe. Over lactose free yoghurt or oats, that group covers most of what a fruit bowl needs. The forms that do not carry over are the processed ones: dried strawberries, strawberry jam, and strawberry flavoured desserts or drinks, which bring concentration and sweeteners the fresh berry does not have. Blackberries, despite sitting in the same punnet aisle, are not a swap for strawberries at ordinary servings.

How to keep it low

Choose berries that are red all the way to the shoulders, since strawberries do not ripen further after picking and a white shouldered berry stays sour. Keep them unwashed and loosely covered in the fridge, and rinse just before eating, because damp berries soften quickly. Weigh the serving once against the berries you usually buy so you know whether your five are near 60g or well over it, and hull them after weighing rather than before for consistency. If you are slicing them over oats or yoghurt, measure into the bowl first rather than topping up as you eat, and when berries are blended into a smoothie, decide the whole fruit content of the glass in one go.

Common questions

how much strawberry is low fodmap

5 berries (60g) is the tested low serving. That is the only amount published here, so larger helpings are untested rather than confirmed.

are frozen strawberries low fodmap

Freezing does not change FODMAP content, so frozen strawberries behave like fresh ones and the same 5 berries (60g) serving applies.

can i eat strawberries on the elimination phase

Yes. Strawberries are low at 5 berries (60g), which makes them one of the straightforward fruits to keep during the strict phase.

is strawberry jam low fodmap

Jam is not covered by the tested serving. Cooking does not break FODMAPs down, jam condenses a lot of fruit into a small spread, and the sweetener matters too, so check for sorbitol, xylitol or high fructose corn syrup on the label.