Supermarket Strawberries

Greyduster

I’ve had some very nice strawberries recently from Aldi’s Specially Selected range. They used to stock Scottish Strawberries which were delicious but seem to have stopped doing that now.

I have alpine strawberries growing in my garden. They are rampant this year. I leave them for the blackbirds!

I got Scottish strawberries from Aldi the other day, but I am in Scotland, so I don't know if that makes any difference.

I bought a large box of large strawberries from Sainsbury's last week, and although large, they were like tasteless bullets. I have given up and am now concentrating on cherries, which will not be around for much loner.

We only buy Scottish soft fruit in season,all local supermarkets sell them. .The season has been extended by growing u;dear cover so they,ll be around until the end of September .
I wouldn,t by strawberries from abroad out of season.My Canadian friend who visited last month says American strawberries are white inside and don’t taste of anything ,she was very impressed with the home grown ones she ate here

I always look for a punnet with lots of small ones they are sweeter and no hard core dont know why though.

I like the smaller ones.

Apparently the darker strawberries are sweeter.

Dylis

My DH thinks I am insane but I always sniff the punnets before buying. Hard, unripe strawberries have no scent. Tasty strawberries have a strawberry aroma.

I sniff them as well... and raspberries if I don't know the variety.

Often there are more than one variety on offer at any given time but also the strawberries can have been picked at different stages of ripeness.

Now I don't have apricots and I wish I could find decent ones of these!

They even grow them commercially hanging up in long gutters WWM2. Cheddar strawberries you can see growing on the slopes.

Commercial grown strawberries are especially bred to withstand a few days on the shop shelves. They are - generally speaking - not the same as we grow in our gardens - and are subject to different growing conditions. My strawberries benefit from the sun, rain and manure😊. commercial strawberries are usually grown in sterile greenhouses away from the natural environment.

Been to Sainsbury’s. Wanted strawberries variety ‘Sweet Eve’ or any related with name including ‘Eve’. Always found them to be what I want from a strawberry: sweet and delicious (and nothing like raw apples).

No ‘Eve’ in stock. Bought ‘Favori’ (grown in Yorks) and they are Absolutely Delicious.

Why have so many got a hard white core?

My DH thinks I am insane but I always sniff the punnets before buying. Hard, unripe strawberries have no scent. Tasty strawberries have a strawberry aroma.

Bring back “pick your own”!

I’m growing my own but with limited success. They were wonderful last year, but not so far this year.

I would never ever buy strawberries. I have a huge patch of strawberry plants in the garden and they are so easy to look after. I also get new plants every year and have provided young plants for friends too. I have had loads of strawberries this year and have eaten a lot and given a lot away which I enjoy doing. When the fruit starts to ripen I net the patch then sprinkle slug pellets otherwise they will get nibbled by slugs and snails.

I never buy strawberries from Marks and Spencer as in the past I've had some tasteless ones.
Never been disappointed with strawberries from Sainsbury's.

fancyflowers

We grow strawberries on our allotment and they are far superior to any supermarket ones we have ever bought. Sadly they are not in season for very long.

You could try different varieties. Like potatoes there are early and lates as well as "standard" ones...
You probably know this.
Apologies if so.

If you do end up with slightly tasteless or underripe strawberries, make a crumble. Absolutely delicious with cream. Put some chopped nuts in the crumble mix and use brown sugar. A handful of raspberries adds a little je ne sais quoi to the strawberries. Just a thought.

Thank you to all for responding to my strawberry comment. Probably the best action is to grow my own or buy from Waitrose or M&S. I used to do alot of 'pick your own' but am not fit enough these days. Will avoid Tesco's finest from now on!!

I’ve had some very nice strawberries recently from Aldi’s Specially Selected range. They used to stock Scottish Strawberries which were delicious but seem to have stopped doing that now.

I have alpine strawberries growing in my garden. They are rampant this year. I leave them for the blackbirds!

We where spoilt having a pick your own strawberry farm on our doorstep.

Reminds me of when an especially tightfisted member of the extended family took children to our local 'pick your own' They were instructed to remove the 'green leaves' from the strawberries as they weren't paying for the bit you throw away. When they finally got home many hours later after an excessively hot day, all the strawberries were much the worse for wear and rot was already setting in 😂 Served them right 🤣

We where spoilt having a pick your own strawberry farm on our doorstep. Our children looked forward to going every year making several trips
Then suddenly it was closed and the farmland was sold. It was then built on for a Premier football teams training ground.
Since then I have tried all strawberries from farm shops to supermarkets.
There are few and far between tiny wild strawberries near by and I have grown some myself but not in great quantities not enough to satisfy my grandchildrens appetite for them. I end up buying better quality English strawberries from a few supermarkets but they are costly. They are flavourwise nothing like the ones we picked from the local farm.

We grow strawberries on our allotment and they are far superior to any supermarket ones we have ever bought. Sadly they are not in season for very long.

Since we moved in ten years ago and cleared the land the wild strawberries have multiplied. I met someone a while ago and she told me that as a child her and friends used to climb over the wall to scrump the wild strawberries

In all fairness to Aldi I bought British strawberries from Aldi to make jam and the flavour was good

Witzend

Gingster

M and S diamond are foolproof

M&S are IMO always best for fruit, though Waitrose is pretty good, too.

Yes, M&S and Waitrose straws came top in a Guardian comparison today.