Strawberry - Best taste variety

[veg4681]

Does anyone has opinion on this? I'm led to believe the Marshmello is one of the best tasting strawberry by virtue of being one of the sweetest. Then there is Irresistible being offered by T&M as their tastiest strawberry.

Also how do taste rate among the F1 hybrids and perpetual/everbearer especially the latter, is taste compromised with it's everbearing quality? Regardless of what variety, I heard that the alpine varieties are always much tastier (sweeter) than standard non-alpine strawberry.

[shirlthegirl43]

I think that strawberry flavour would be a personal preference thing veg. Some people will prefer a juicy fruit, some a sweet fruit so I think you will have to taste all the different varieties and choose for yourself should be an enjoyable task though!

[pigletwillie]

I grow marshmello and they are excelent tastewise and give a good crop. I also grow Aromel as an everbearer and have found it to be so good that from the 50 plants bought last year, another 100 have been propogated ready to plant out this spring.

Tatewise, marshmello just nicks it but the aromel are so productive, right up till mid October last year that they are a must have. Home grown strawbs in Autumn taste miles better than shop bought ones.

[Cutecumber]

I am no fan of the strawberry, but I have eaten a few and grown them for others.

As with all food, flavour is quite subjective.

I grew Marshmello last year - the reports from humans were very positive and the birds certainly liked them! They had a solid central core - when ripe, picking the hull would remove this core cleanly, but I can see that some people would find this annoying.

Alpine (woodland, wild, etc) strawberries are completely different. Their flavour is disimilar to the large type and they are (virtually always) very small which puts people off. The irony is that the flavour is more intense and complex, and they are extremely easy to grow.

If you have never had alpine strawberries, I would encourage you to grow some of your own.

[Seahorse]

Agree with Shirley that it's all subjective but does anyone have opinions (good or bad!) on ostara, elsanta or honeoye? (These are the ones I've bought from Wilko!).

I've never really cared for 'supermarket' strawbs but from what I've heard and read, home grown are a different thing altogether!?

[shirlthegirl43]

Ostara are enjoyed by my menfolk but they really go mental for the alpine strawbs that grow semi-wild over our patio.

[veg4681]

Agree with Shirley that it's all subjective but does anyone have opinions (good or bad!) on ostara, elsanta or honeoye? (These are the ones I've bought from Wilko!).

I've never really cared for 'supermarket' strawbs but from what I've heard and read, home grown are a different thing altogether!?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think more than likely the supermarket strawberry will be Elsanta as the commercial favourite for its longer shelf life quality perhaps. If you have lilked the supermarket ones (grown by British farmers, not from abroad that has useless taste) then you're alright. I was reasonably satisfied with the taste when they had special price of �1.89 per punnet last summer. In case you're dissapointed with this fact, let me remind you that the Elsanta you grow at home should be a bit better than supermarket ones because you wouldn't pick them before they're fully riped which I gather makes a big difference.

[shirlthegirl43]

In case you're dissapointed with this fact, let me remind you that the Elsanta you grow at home should be a bit better than supermarket ones because you wouldn't pick them before they're fully riped which I gather makes a big difference.

HUGE difference more like!

[Sirius]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think more than likely the supermarket strawberry will be Elsanta as the commercial favourite for its longer shelf life quality perhaps. If you have lilked the supermarket ones (grown by British farmers, not from abroad that has useless taste) then you're alright. I was reasonably satisfied with the taste when they had special price of �1.89 per punnet last summer. In case you're dissapointed with this fact, let me remind you that the Elsanta you grow at home should be a bit better than supermarket ones because you wouldn't pick them before they're fully riped which I gather makes a big difference.

Our Elsanta last year was beautiful, and whilst it was a gorgeous specimen and continued to flourish, nothing came of it. I know last year wasn't a good year for strawbs mind.

[TPeers]

I grew Marshmello last year - the reports from humans were very positive and the birds certainly liked them! They had a solid central core - when ripe, picking the hull would remove this core cleanly, but I can see that some people would find this annoying.

Just to throw a spanner on the works - why wouldn't you want the hull to pull free? The hull is tastless, chewey and annoying.

Here with the campaign for strawberries to only be picked when properly ripe so the hull pulls free!!

[muckdiva]

The nicest ones I've tried are Mara des Bois, which have a wild strawberry taste. I bought some a few years back and would like some more. I think Ken Muir sells plants now.

[veg4681]

Our Elsanta last year was beautiful, and whilst it was a gorgeous specimen and continued to flourish, nothing came of it. I know last year wasn't a good year for strawbs mind.

Were they in their first year? If no, did you cut off the runners? Lots of runners = hardly any fruits.

[Sirius]

Second year for the Elsanta, and yes, I made sure the runners were all cut off, although they kept coming and it seemed like a thankless task.....

[veg4681]

Second year for the Elsanta, and yes, I made sure the runners were all cut off, although they kept coming and it seemed like a thankless task.....

Maybe the fruits were compromised from lush foliage. I think there's a trade off between foliage and fruits/flowers in that too much fertiliser, manuring etc can contribute to too much foliage growth at the expense of latter but this is pretty standard problems with any other fruiting vegetables. I worry too that I might overdo the feeding , you know not getting the balance right.

Also in the first year, did you harvest the fruits because they say you're not supposed to; to get higher crops in 2nd and 3rd year. Besides is it possible that the birds had a good feast out of them at your expense? Hope you'll have better success this year.

[Sirius]

I don't know about the first year, unfortunately, as the plant came to me in the second, so it's possible that it was treated the way it would have liked initially. Fingers crossed and some tlc is about all I could do Thanks veg for the encouragement.