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Posted by whatalottie (U9072847) on Saturday, 18th July 2009
So which is the best tasting strawberry? I know this is impossible to answer definitively, but I'd like to know what people think. I'd like to invest in a really good strawberry taste!
I'm going to put in a new strawberry bed for next year and I'm going to BUY some plants. All the ones we have have been gifts from other allotmenteers, and some are delicious...
Has anyone tried the 'everlasting' or 'everbearing' varieties? Albion has a good write up and Flamenco sounds good. On the whole I'd rather rely on your opinion than rely on a sales catalogue!
Thanks, Lottie
the taste is a relative concept. Each taster would taste and smell the same variety of strawberry differently. Weather and growing conditions would also make a difference.
I grow 2 varieties, Cambridge Favourite and Hapi — I'd say of the two, Cambridge Favourite is the tastiest, they are both grown in the same bed.
I wouldn't want the perpetual ones, they taste too rubbery and the great thing about strawberries is those few weeks of bliss when you can gorge on them fresh from the garden and then wait a year for the next treat.
Hi TallyHo,
During the very few minutes I saw this week's Beechgrove (stuck holding an umbrella over some lovely sea bream on the BBQ ), they were comparing strawbs and voted Cambridge Favourite the tastiest, so you're in good company!
I grow Elsanta and Florence for a later variety and think they are as tasty as the older varieties - they certainly yield more. Elsanta has a bad name because commercial ones are kept in a 'cold chain' so that they are in pefect condition for the supermarket shelves, but they lose their flavour.Any variety which is newly picked from the garden and kept at ambient temperature tastes much better than supermarket.
I like Cambridge Favourite best. I've had the plants a long time although I plant up the runners and get rid of some of the oldest plants every year. I also take some young plants into the greenhouse in the spring for earlier strawberries. Delicious!
I have grown Elsanta for a few years but last year got some Irrisistible as it was advertised as the best tasting strawberry you will ever find.
To be honest, I found both varieties as delicious as each other. I think that it is down to feeding them and not picking them until they are completely ripe. A lot of the fruit that you see in the supermarket are not really red enough. Also, fruit that you pick from the garden is still warm from the sun so that must make a difference. Finally, it is much more juicy when you have just picked it and eat it straight away.
Can't wait for next year's crop.
, in reply to message 7.
Posted by whatalottie (U9072847) on Saturday, 25th September 2010
Without any doubt at all the best strawberry I've ever tasted is 'Mara de Bois' which is an perpetual (!) so it's fruited since july and STILL going strong.
The fruits are large, juicy and EVERYONE I've give it to thinks it's wonderful. It's been dubbed the Wimbledon Stawberry on our allotment.
No question about it, it's "Mara des Bois" for me too. Unfortunately my attempts to grow it have completely failed, no idea why, must have another go.
Currently I've got "Gariguette" which aren't bad either.
The press seems to have changed for Cambridge Favourite over the years, at one time I recall everybody thought it was inferior but good for jam.
, in reply to message 9.
Posted by koala_girl (U12702629) on Saturday, 25th September 2010
I am also growing a variety called Symphony for the first time this year. My father bought some plants because they are a late fruiting type and he passed some on to me. They really are late - I've been picking them since late August and they are still producing fruit today. The fruit is very sweet and tastes lovely but they are not as juicy as the earlier varieties.
, in reply to message 10.
Posted by Summerchild (U14187397) on Saturday, 25th September 2010
WE used to grow Cambridge Favourite which was good and Royal Sovereign, which we thought was better.
I don't know if RS is available any more.
S
, in reply to message 9.
Posted by whatalottie (U9072847) on Saturday, 25th September 2010
We had gariguette too Logisssimo. They did tste good, but I wasn't overwhelmed, perhaps if I hadn't had mara des bois since then ...
The plants did have a hard time. The scorching weather didn't help, we watered well of course, but then the mole going through, they've had a bad time.
Next year!
Lottie
, in reply to message 11.
Posted by koala_girl (U12702629) on Sunday, 26th September 2010
Marshalls still sell Royal Sovereign.
, in reply to message 13.
Posted by mattthegaffer (U14184801) on Sunday, 26th September 2010
We've had Florence on the PYO section this year...best tasting strawberries I've had to date. Symphony is up there too, very fragrant. The everbearers as already mentioned have a very different texture, but I find Albion to be very sweet. We've also grown Darselect this year in place of Honeoye....so far so good. Good sized fruit and very juicy.
whatalottie
What a good thread. I planted up a strawberry patch this year from 6 plants bought last year but hadn't really thought about the variety, mine only fruited for a few weeks producing fruit from one flower before stopping. I was pleased with the crop but clearly there are better varieties.
Presumably varieties like 'Mara de Bois' will survive our cold winter. If they were bought, say 6 plants next spring would it produce runners to plant a new patch ready for the spring after.
I'm thinking of replacing my patch with a better variety.
Bought earlier this year a Pegasus plant for my garden and that went down a storm with the local fauna. I didn't get to eat any of them. Have an unknown verity next to it from a garden fete which is about to produce its first fruits. Hopefully I will get some of them.
, in reply to message 15.
Posted by koala_girl (U12702629) on Sunday, 26th September 2010
Zoomer - I didn't think much about the variety when I bought my first strawberries. It was only in subsequent years that I tried growing different kinds. The hard thing is remembering which is which! I like to pot up the runners and have to be very methodical about labelling.
koala_girl
We live and learn. My 6 plants from 2009 produced a patch of at least 30 plus new plants so you can imagine how many extra strawberries I got this year, with a variety which continues to produce fruit long after the first flowers, is great.
I've kept a diary of what has worked and what hasn't this year.
, in reply to message 18.
Posted by Summerchild (U14187397) on Sunday, 26th September 2010
Just remembered that we also grew Red Gauntlet (I think that was its name). Very tasty.
Summer
, in reply to message 19.
Posted by whatalottie (U9072847) on Sunday, 26th September 2010
By the way I ought to say that the 'Chelsea Pensioner' late fruiting strawberries were also outstanding. They have ENORMOUS berries which taste fantastic. I'd recommed these as well.
We've had a very fruitful year! (ow) We've eaten strawberries from mid June, garrigette (early), cambridge late pine (mid), Chelsea pensioner (late) and then the Mara des Bois.
All of them tasted good, but the mara des bois were a revelation.
Lottie
Has anyone tried 'Mount Everest' strawberries, I was looking for a variety to replace mine which only fruits June/July and came across this one on the T and M site. It grows up a trellis and looks to produce lots of fruit on one plant.
Oh that sounds really cool. I have a spot where I grow a trailing tomatoe but this could go there in the box next to it.
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