Berry lovers rejoice: it’s set to be a record-breaking year for strawberries, with fruits up to three times larger than average set to hit the shelves before long.
A dry, sunny spring, leading into the warmest start to May on record and plenty of sunshine, has been paired with cooler night-time temperatures, which help to slow and steady the development of the fruit.
The cooler nights – though they may have had us all shivering and reaching for our cashmere sweaters – have been a boon for strawberry growers like Bartosz Pinkosz, operations director at The Summer Berry Company, which grows fruit in Colworth, West Sussex, and supplies major retailers such as ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and M&S. ‘The slower the development of the fruits, the more time to expand the cells and create the bigger berry. What we are now seeing is something I have never seen in 19 years, which is consistently larger berries,’ he told The Guardian.
And it’s not just in size that these berries are set to excel. The growing conditions means the behemoth strawberries are expected to be supersized in terms of flavour and sweetness too, according to Nick Marston, the chair of the industry body British Berry Growers. ‘We’re seeing very good size, shape, appearance, and most of all, really great flavour and sugar content, which is what consumers want when they buy British strawberries,’ he says.
All-in-all, it’s great news for strawberry fans – although, if predictions of 50g berries come true, you might be surprised by the quantity of fruits in your average punnet. But rest assured, they should still be as tasty as you’d expect from a British berry – something that will be particularly comforting to Wimbledon-goers as they fork out a king’s ransom for a bowl of strawberries and cream.
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