To think that strawberries smell of sewage / rotten meat?

[crankycurmudgeon]

While strawberries taste OK to me, I find the smell really overpowering. Especially when ripe, the overwhelming sense I get is the sickly, pungent smell you get from sewage / rotting meat / summer dustbins. I find it so off-putting, particularly because the smell overwhelms the fridge.

I get the same pungent poopy smell with some tropical fruits, particularly papaya. It just makes me want to gag.

Am I going mad, or is this something other people experience? I can only think that my brain processes a chemical other people find delicious as something disgusting.

Anyway:

YANBU - get that punnet of poop out of my fridge!
AIBU - nah mate, strawberries are the the fragrant nectar of the UK summer!

Fresh ones are lovely. Ones that are on the turn smell terrible. Buy fresh, Scottish or British strawberries that have been picked the day before they go on sale.

Supermarket ones smell like this to me, I often wonder if they spray them with sewage as a fertiliser. My allotment ones smell amazing, like sweets, nothing like the shop ones which usually taste sour too. I don't buy them anymore.

With you on papaya 🤮

Strawberries never last long enough in my house to go grim

I don't think they smell like you describe but I do find the smell of them unpleasant, I keep them in a lidded soft fruit box in the fridge. I don't notice once they are in the bowl to eat!

Can't relate at all. I love the strawberry smell and papaya is my all time favourite fruit (alongside mango)

Papaya smells like dirty pants 😂

Grow your own, they smell lush. Our local greengrocer sells Dutch ones early in the season, they are vastly superior to any English ones I have eaten.

I know what you mean. I was sick of buying strawberries to then have them smelling so bad. We grow our own now and have loads, but I find if you wash them, dry them and keep them in a jar in the fridge, it keeps them fresh for so much longer than just keeping them in the plastic tub they come in.

Ugh, must people share their every weird aversion? Yes, OP, it's just you.

Disagree! I drive past a farm shop on my way home and often stop to buy strawberries. The smell (mind you these are freshly picked) makes my mouth water!

I’m surprised people have agreed with you. I didn’t expect that. I’m now fascinated to know why people smell things differently. Obviously I knew not everyone likes the same smells, but for one person to smell sweet fruitiness and another to smell poo, is really interesting. I’m wondering if the people who smell poo would smell durian differently to other people. I think durian is the fruit that smells really bad but tastes good, not sure

Ive said YANBU as while I find them nectar of the gods etc if they smell like turd to you that's how they smell so eat sooner or get rid

Papaya is disgusting. I find it almost fishy. Coconut water as well tastes like fish to me.

Strawberries I do like the smell. But sometimes they have virtually no taste or are really sour.

Actually for me it’s lilies, the smell is so strong it can seem off.

I like the smell of strawberries, but raspberries smell like that to me. Also raw cashews smell like fish. I don't like the smell of celery either.

Sounds like parosmia - where smells get mixed up. I remember lots of people experiencing this in 1st wave of covid.

If you find papaya smelly, do you like coriander?

I think supermarket berries tend to rot from the inside out so you don’t know how bad they are sometimes. Best to buy local / fresh or grow your own if possible

I am intrigued by the coriander - papaya link. I do like coriander and I am convinced papaya smells of vomit. I lived in East Africa for some years and it was served everywhere 🤢 the one thing that seemed to neutralise the vom smell was squeezing fresh lime on it. Papaya is apparently insanely good for your guts.

Love strawberries though.

I only buy at roadside or M&S or Waitrose and eat within 2 days - best ones I had were when we lived in Denmark - i think they go on the turn quite quick . I do think though some people process smells differently -

O for instance don’t like the smell of papaya or mangoes or spring onions ( but love spring onions in recipes)

All strawberries have that smell to them for me - even fresh, homegrown and farm-shop ones! I still like the taste, but there's definitely a base note of bin juice. Maybe it's a chemical thing, like people who find coriander soapy?

Papaya doesn't really smell of anything to me but I agree about strawberries. I spent such a long time hunting through the fridge, cleaning it all the time etc. to get the source of the horrible smell until I realised it was strawberries

The ones in Asda at the moment taste really sweet and delicious, but they do smell a bit like trumps.

I have to say op i agree with you.
The other day i got some feom tje shop and 2 days later the smell was rank it was pungent in the fridge i put them in the bin.