Britain’s new winter berries that taste of summer
PlUMP, juicy and bursting with sweetness, strawberries are as synonymous with British summertime as barbecues, bunting and tennis on TV.
But this year they’ve been spotted on shelves earlier than ever — with Waitrose stocking berries grown and harvested in the UK from the start of March.
So how did they do it? And are these unseasonable strawberries tasteless ‘Frankenfruit’, or the start of a whole new era for the nation’s favourite summer snack?
SUN-LOVING STRAWBS
STRAWBeRRIeS are notoriously difficult to grow in the chillier months as they require at least eight hours of full sun each day — which, with the exception of the recent mini-heatwave, doesn’t sound much like the wind and rain we’ve been experiencing of late.
Most winter fruit in this country is imported, but Waitrose insists the latest crop of berries is British through and through. And as the UK market booms to £325 million a year, it says selling them so early will soon become routine.
According to food consortium British Summer Fruits, 25 years ago the strawberry season lasted just six weeks, while today it’s around nine months long.
PRESTON’S PERFECT
SO what’s behind this boom in British fruit in the colder months? For a start, winters are getting milder, while technological advances mean it’s now possible to simulate the light and heat required for natural growth, even in the north of england and Scotland.
The secret, explains Waitrose’s soft fruit buyer Nicki Baggott, is in the growing conditions. The lusa variety (£3.50 for a 260g punnet) is supplied by two family farms — Flavourfresh and Medlar Farms — based near to Preston in lancashire.
‘The light levels and proximity to the sea make this the perfect place to grow early season strawberries,’ Nicki explains. ‘We work with a dedicated team of farmers who are specialists and take great pride in the growing process.’
The sea breeze provides just the amount of freshness required to enhance the berries’ sweetness, while growing them in the chillier northern counties gives farmers full control over their ripening speed.
BRED FOR WINTER
The lusa seeds are a hardy new variety, specially developed to be grown in glasshouses where maximum light can reach the plants. Biomass boilers — eco-friendly heaters which generate energy from waste plant matter — are used to gently heat the glasshouses to an ambient temperature of 17-20c.
‘It mimics a warm British summer,’ says Nicki. ‘Our strawberries sit at shoulder height in order to get the most exposure to natural light — and being slightly raised also allows them to be protected from the cooler nights.’
REACHING THE SHOPS
AFTER being harvested, they’re washed, packed and transported — in room-temperature crates rather than chilled containers — to preserve the 350 different molecules responsible for the strawberries’ distinctive taste and smell. Waitrose isn’t the first supermarket to get UK strawberries on to shelves, however. Aldi pipped them to the post by bringing out a one-off crop of British berries — grown at a nursery in South Wales — to Welsh stores in mid-February, conveniently timed for Valentine’s Day. And, in 2015, shoppers at Sainsbury’s were able to pick up punnets in December, thanks to greenhouses fitted with blue and red lighting, which tricked the plants into thinking it was spring.
HOW DO THEY TASTE?
AT first glance, there’s very little difference between the lusa strawberry now on the shelves at Waitrose, and the British-grown berries we’re used to seeing in May and June. They’re perhaps a little smaller, but uniformly-shaped and an appetising crimson hue. And I can report the skin is soft and the flesh is melt-in-the-mouth delicious; delicate, sweet and refreshing.
FRUIT OF THE FUTURE?
THIS year’s success — the strawberries are selling out faster than they can be restocked — should set a precedent. As the cream of the UK fruit crop, it’s no wonder supermarkets are putting so much effort into these little red berries. And if they can conjure up a balmy British summer in the midst of soggy spring, we’ll be filling our trolleys.