Where did the term 'strawberry blonde' come from? What is being referred to by the phrase?

STRAWBERRY BLONDE - is mostly based on red tones, with blonde highlights dotted here and there. It takes its name from the Italian renaissance. During this period, women lightened their hair using lemon juice and saffron in combination with the sun's natural rays of light. In the late 1800s, Jennie Hicks, a popular newspaper writer for the New York Daily Mail, toiled under the pseudonym Sophie Sparkle.'' This early usage (1873) of strawberry blonde appears to confirm its AmE origin.