Home-grown strawberries to hit supermarkets unseasonably early

STRAWBERRIES are arriving on Scottish supermarket shelves this week – more than two months before the start of the traditional season.

According to British Summer Fruits, a growers’ association, the berry season officially starts on May 1 and lasts until the end of September.

However, technological improvements and mild temperatures mean producers across the UK will be supplying strawberries from the end of February.

M&S and Tesco will both have British-grown fruit in selected stores this week, with availability increasing throughout the spring.

Tesco’s strawberry buyer Henry Maulik said: “The arrival of the first English strawberries marks the start of the UK fruit season, and is a great indicator that spring is just around the corner.” Customers will be able to buy the Lusa variety of the berry, which is known for its deep-red colour and aromatic flavour.

According to British Summer Fruits, the strawberry season was only six weeks long 25 years ago, but industry investment has extended this period to up to nine months.

Early batches of strawberries are normally grown in the warmer climates of Kent, Sussex and Wales.

But computerised glasshouse technology is allowing producers in Lancashire and Scotland to be amongst the first to deliver fruit to retailers.

Lancashire-based Medlar Fruit Farms is expecting to grow strawberries until mid-November this year.

Managing director Steve Ball said: “We’re pleased to have been able to put Lancashire well and truly on the map for strawberries.

“We’ve been working with Tesco to extend the British season, so that shoppers can enjoy them for even longer.”

In December last year, it emerged that scientists at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee and Aberdeen were developing “cultivars” for blueberries which are more suited to the Scottish climate and late spring. The fruit is among the world’s most powerful sources of healthy antioxidants.

But until now the Scottish climate has been too cold and wet for many blueberry varieties with only a handful of fruit farms able produce the valuable crop. Scottish fruit-growing areas are among the last in Britain to reach the perfect average daily temperature.