Strawberries

The British summer wouldn't be complete without a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream! Picking your own strawberries ensures you can enjoy the fruit at its most fresh.

A good strawberry can be enjoyed on its own or in home-made ice cream, sorbet and summer desserts. Strawberries make great jam, but care must be taken when freezing.

Varieties

Taste is a very personal thing. Flavour can vary with such factors as weather and the stage of the crop and therefore our map and staff will direct pickers to the crops that are best at the time of picking.

Some varieties have better keeping qualities than others and so it's best to ask the advice of our staff if you need to keep the fruit for a special function rather than eating them straight away.

Elsanta (early) is our first crop to fruit this year. Elsanta has a very 'strawberry shape' and a long shelf-life, and so is often found in the supermarkets.

Honeyoye (early) keeps well and its rich colour is great for jam.

Rosie (early) has a lovely shape and is often smaller, so individual Rosie berries are ideal for decorating desserts and cakes.

Hapil (mid) has an outstanding flavour and a distinctive shape. Hapil is exclusive to PYO farms.

Symphony (mid - late) is a lovely-looking fruit and keeps well. It needs to be picked fully ripe to appreciate it's distinctive flavour.

Florence (mid - late) is a new variety to the farm.

Sophie (late) is also exclusive to PYO due to its short shelf-life, but makes up for it in sweetness.

Jam Strawberries are on differing fields selected as they become available throughout the season. Please see the map by the farm shop for up-to-date information at the time of your visit.

Top Tips for Strawberry Picking

• To ensure you can enjoy the best quality fruit, check out our advice on picking and storage.
• One kilo of strawberries will give 8 small portions, 6 average portions or 4 good portions. There are usually 50 strawberries to the kilo.
• Ensure your containers are not too deep, to stop the fruit from being squashed.
• Strawberries will last a lot longer with the hod (green leafy bit) still in.
• The best fruit is usually at the furthest corner of a patch of strawberries. Walk to the far corner before starting to pick, if you can resist that far!
• Washing fruit is not recommended. Washed fruit goes soggy, and loses its flavour and natural shine.

The Strawberry Calendar

The life of a strawberry plant all year round...