Is it possible to have sweet, premium berries that have been grown in the UK in December?
Sandy Booth from New Forest Fruit, has proved that it is. The company already produces some of the earliest strawberries in the country, but they have gone further and are producing a premium strawberry with a brix level of 10 in December right through to May.
It all began at Fruit Logistica in February 2022 when Sandy and his colleague were walking the halls visiting customers. They passed a stand with fresh strawberries and had a taste, "It was one of best strawberries I'd tasted in years," said Sandy.
The strawberries were from the Japanese company Miyoshi. The Japanese strawberry season runs from December to June, the rest of the year is too hot to grow them. There are 45 different regions in Japan, each one producing its own varieties. These vary greatly in sweetness and texture. Japan only started exporting strawberry seeds around five years ago.
"After having tasted the strawberries at Fruit Logistica, we brought some seeds over and sowed enough for a few thousand plants and the first yield was great but could have been better," explains Sandy. "We looked at the light levels, Japan is on the same latitude as England but the light levels are very different, England has on average 250 mols per year, while Japan has 900. We had to make up the difference with lighting. We took a gamble and planted 100,000 plants the following season."
New Forest Fruits supplied the first winter strawberries to Sainsbury's in December 2024, and it is looking promising. "We see it as a journey and will continue to learn more about growing these varieties, sometimes through making mistakes. We are looking at the lighting and also the nutrition content of the substrates, and will continue to make improvements."
The average brix of (imported) winter strawberries is 6-8, and New Forest Fruit's Japanese varieties are 10.
The winter strawberry season will run from December through to May, this not only means that New Forest Fruits can provide a premium strawberry when there are not many on the market, but it also means that they have very little downtime and can keep their key staff in work year-round.
The seeds are sourced from Miyoshi and the strawberries are marketed under the BerryPop brand.
For more information:
Jackie Barr
New Forest Fruit Company
Tel.: +44 (0)1590 612297
Email: [email protected]
www.newforestfruit.com