Shortcake! What better celebration of summer? Strawberry shortcake took the country by storm during the “Strawberry Fever” of the 1850s and soon rose to its eminent position in the American dessert pantheon. Historians look to its New England origins; wild strawberries were available and preferred there.
A somewhat rough version of strawberry shortcake was described in 1636 by Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island: “The Indians bruise [wild strawberries] in a morter and mix them with meal and make strawberry bread.”