UK market will soon have strawberries available in winters owing to the emergence of a new hybrid strawberry variety.
Specifically bred for both summer and winter production with particularly strong performance under LED lights, Elsoms new breakthrough F1 Hybrid strawberry variety Soraya has performed consistently well over three years of trials.
“Conventionally grown strawberries are usually available from June to July with the introduction of Everbearers extending this from March and into the Autumn, but with Soraya production can now be genuinely all year round,” reports quoted the company’s Crop Specialist Claire Taylor as saying.
“Furthermore, consumer testing has shown they are manifestly preferable to UK tastes than most imported varieties, being sweet bright red berries in the classic British strawberry style."
With imported strawberries often coming from over 2000 miles away, British winter-grown strawberries have reduced food miles and a lower carbon footprint, particularly when rainwater harvesting and renewable energy systems are used in their production, Taylor said.
Soraya is sweet, flavoursome and firm fruit which excels in a traditionally-timed production regime but when sown from July to August will produce fruit for harvest mid-October to the end of March.
The opportunity these varieties, and Soraya in particular, offer to the market is already being recognised with three key UK multiple retailers being supplied with the variety this last winter, she pointed out.
“It’s quite an achievement to put British strawberries on the shelves of three main UK supermarkets over the winter. Response has been really encouraging from retailers and consumers alike and there’s now a real opportunity for UK growers to take a slice of the large strawberry import market to the benefit of all involved," she said.
Panel discussion at the relaunch of the SAITG on 3 March 2025
