To stop eating strawberries

[MissPop]

I used to love eating a whole juicy punnet of strawberries all to myself.

These days they just taste so bland and they’re supposed to be in season. Even the really expensive ones taste crap.

So, no more strawberries for me. They’re not cheap either.

Am I alone in this?

only buy them when they are a) local and b) in season.

I had some last evening from our village and they were perfection in a little red heart shaped fruit. But i only eat them when the village kiosk is open, and i know the fields they come from. Added bonus: no plastic packaging

I find it depends where they are from and when you get them. June/July strawbs from England are the best especially if they are local to you but boy are they expensive this year!! The ones I got in Sainsburys that claimed to be British were hard and bland and just yuck but those I got in Waitrose were lovely.

Get British Evie or Jubilee and eat at room temperature, not straight from the fridge.
It hasn't been a great year for strawberries (again) because of the weather.

These comments make me pleased I'm allergic to them now! 🤣

Always buy local and eat at room temperature.
I always check the supplier on the front of the packs in the supermarket and buy Hereford before any others.

Hmm might have to drag my daughter strawberry picking. I’ve tried Aldi, Sainsburys and Tesco. Given up now. Maybe next year. I always open the punnet with high expectations but then I’m disappointed once again 🤣.

To be fair I think peak strawberry season is May and June so I usually tend to stick to strawberries then. But agreed as local as possible, as fresh as possible, eat as soon as you've bought them and eat them at room temperature.

I live in Angus and we have the most gorgeous local strawberries up here. The season is over at my favourite farm already but I think I ate my weight's worth of strawberries in the last week of the season.

Many are now grown hydroponically for ease of picking. Which is why they taste of water.

Go get some plants and in the years to come you will have so many you will be giving them away, and they will taste amazing.

I think British strawberries in season are great, but the season is very short so really they're only good in June/July. The ones that are grown out of season and imported don't tend to taste of very much, I find.

@HavfrueDenizKisi

Still awful in May and June.

@Tarkan This is what I used to do a few years ago when they tasted nice. Usually one punnet a day all to myself, all throughout summer 🤦‍♀️.

@AlisonDonut Definitely food for thought.

If strawberries are a bit crap, de-hull and halve them and sprinkle with a little caster sugar, leave overnight in the fridge and the next day they will be so much better. It's often sweetness that's lacking through forced ripening, so compensating for that helps loads.

Plus they all contain worms these days

I eat strawberries non stop through the summer. I always give the punnet a sniff first. and if they don't have a strong scent don't bother. M&S ones are always good but I had some lovely Scottish strawberries from Morrison's the other day.

Grow them! I'm not green fingered but honestly they are easy to grow in pots. Get some young plants or seedlings from garden centre or even b&q, they go great guns over the summer, just make sure they don't dry out. If you don't have a garden they're fine on balconies or even in a sunny spot near a window. They are delicious and nothing nicer than something you've grown yourself.

They are so hit and miss. I'll occasionally buy some and they will be delicious, so I'll buy more the following week and they are either mushy/bland/hard. So they aren't worth the gamble! I used to love the imperfect strawberries in Tesco for a pound, better than the expensive ones but haven't seen them for a while.

I do agree OP that mass production has sacrificed taste, absolutely. It can still be so hit and miss from punnet to punnet. The best I've found this year is M&S and Tesco. Had a fabulous punnet from Tesco, so sweet, but never quite managed that again!

British strawberries are always the best. Go for the dark red ones.

I didn’t know they were so easy to grow as I’m definitely not green fingered myself. Currently googling strawberry seeds.

Even the dark red ones which look promising have been bland. I can’t afford the gamble anymore either so I’m just going to stop buying them.

It’s the variety that’s the problem. Many modern varieties are bred for shelf-life, disease resistance or size rather than flavour. You may have better luck at a pick-your-own place where they usually have several varieties growing.

Definitely grow your own.

We tend to only have them when they are the in-season local ones, not the over-inflated ones that come from Spain in March.
At room temp they are delicious.

Although the rabbits like to eat ours so cover them if you live somewhere with wild greedy rabbits. They don’t touch the kale or spinach just the strawberries. Bastards.

If you're not green fingered but plants not seeds.
Or ask someone who already grows them for some runners -baby plants that big plants send off.

(BUY plants, not BUT plants...)