Vile tasting strawberries, can they be salvaged?

[Cocteautriplet]

I’m a bit gutted we went fruit picking after school and got two 1kg punnets of strawberries that look gorgeous but taste really awful: bitter and sharp with a weird artificial aftertaste … I wish I’d got the crop name so I could avoid them in future but they are a almost a dark red (see picture). Can they be salvaged maybe in jam or a coulis? The texture is nice and juicy but that’s the only good thing going for them. Wish I’d ignored the no eating crop in field rule but the kids were excited to pick them, I paid close to £7 a kilo for them! 😩

No idea, but something weird just happened to me, just for a second. I looked at your photo and could suddenly smell strawberries!

Oooo that’s a bit spooky! 😂

Balsamic vinegar

odd but it works

I’ve tried giving them a good wash by the way … still awful!

I'd probably make a compote. The sugar will help to counteract the bitterness, and you will hopefully still get the fresh strawberry flavour more than you would with jam.

Make a crumble. Cut them in half, put in an oven proof dish, sprinkle with sugar and a crumble topping and bake.

Are you sure they aren’t mouldy? Mould grows inside the fruit before it goes fuzzy on the outside (to release spores).

macerated strawberries

Yup then you could freeze and have it on standby to add to ice cream, yougurt, porridge or even use for a milkshake!

Lunatic … could be … they certainly taste interesting… Bleugh!

Surprised you didn’t try a good handful whilst picking

They sound moldy

bitter and sharp with a weird artificial aftertaste …

I hope that’s not the taste of pesticide or other chemical spray @Cocteautriplet

I would wash, dry with tea towel, and half or quarter them, size dependent, then sprinkle some sugar over them. Leave for half an hour or so, then have a Eton mess :
cream and crushed meringue.
My take is throw enough sugar at it, it will taste ok 😂

We've had a bumper crop of strawberries this June.
The ones you have in the photo they look underipe, they should be a much deeper darker red.
I just read a good way to wash strawberries is to put a cup of white vinegar in a basin with water and swish them about, drain them and then put them in cool bath of plain water to rinse.
I would be worried about pesticides also but I would also think there would be a law against having people pick their own strawberries without a prominent sign advising them that if they used pesticides they must be thoroughly washed before consuming!

We always wash them first just in case plus they are pretty big on signs saying ‘no eating’. I’m too law abiding 😂 I think but I blooming wish I had tasted them as I would not have wasted my money!

My FIL sprayed his greenhouse once. His grapes were tainted for two years.

It's a rare strawberry that cannot be salvaged by cooking and adding a bit of balsamic vinegar.

My DH is a commercial grower (but not pyo). Those strawberries are what we would sell cheap as waste for jam, they are awful! I wouldn't be too concerned about pesticides, because once the berries are out there are not very many pesticides that are able to be used (commercially) and they have strict harvest intervals, to endure that all traces have gone before consumption. Those strawberries are what ours look like when the crop is exhausted and there's just the dregs left - also when the plants are stressed with too heat / not enough water. The stems that the berries grown on get kinked or bent which cuts off the nutrients supply and then never recover. The berries are dark coloured and end up tasting bitter as you describe. The down side of PYO, the grower is probably never going to let you in to pick the 'good ones' like these ones! Jam is probably your best bet I'm afraid.

Try slicing them in half and sprinkling on some powder sugar. (Or macerating in white sugar)

Soak them in a bicarbonate of soda/water solution before you use them.