Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Strawberries - California vs. Florida

weinoo

By weinoo
in Kitchen Consumer

 Share

Recommended Posts

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted (edited)

For just a short period of time in the early spring, I'm able to buy (commercial) strawberries from Florida.  I bought some last week at Trader Joe's, but today all of the strawberries at TJ's were from California, either Salinas or Watsonville, basically.  So I left them on the shelf.  On my (very short) walk back to the apartment, I stopped at my corner fruit stand guy, and he had these...

 

image.thumb.jpeg.88984255e52915317ae3cf6b4b6848d8.jpeg

 

At half the price of Trader Joe's (i.e.: 2 for $4), and they looked fine (it's always caveat emptor with the corner fruit stand guy). So I bought 2 containers.

 

I find that the Florida strawberries are so much sweeter and more strawberry-flavored (which is why I left the berries on the shelf at Trader Joe's) than the California ones.  

 

Obviously, I'm only referring to these commercial strawberries, not to farmer's market type berries, or Harry's, or any high-end fancy ones, which can run up to $10 and higher per pound.  I'm wondering if that's anyone else's experience?

 

Edited by weinoo (log)
  • Like 1

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 4:15 PM, weinoo said:

I find that the Florida strawberries are so much sweeter and more strawberry-flavored (which is why I left the berries on the shelf at Trader Joe's) than the California ones.  

 

Obviously, I'm only referring to these commercial strawberries, not to farmer's market type berries, or Harry's, or any high-end fancy ones, which can run up to $10 and higher per pound.  I'm wondering if that's anyone else's experience?

Expand  

 

Yes, very much so.

  • Like 1

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.  -Robert G. Ingersoll, lawyer and orator

 

Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. -George Jean Nathan, author and editor

 

A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which you realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.

-Dave Barry, humorist 

AlaMoi

AlaMoi

Posted
Posted

methinks making such generalizations is a really really dicey thing . . .

 

example:  was once a local farm stand operated by Mennonite family, with relatives/contacts in the Carolinas.

they would have the mostest superbest early berries and corn . . .  one of the family would drive a truck full of stuff up to PA once/twice a week - so they always had the best stuff from a climate 'ahead' of us....  picked ripe, delivered next day . . .

 

I have found early supermarket berries and "sweet corn" are not at all 'reliable' in terms of quality.  sometimes they get a hit, most of the time they miss it by a still-green mile.

even "in season" the local stuff is far superior . . .

  • Like 1
blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted

I generally only buy strawberries at my local farmers market. Harry’s is among the vendors and expensive here, too. I see Mexican berries in supermarkets but will have to keep an eye out for Florida.  I suspect I’ll be looking for a long time!

KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 11:13 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I generally only buy strawberries at my local farmers market. Harry’s is among the vendors and expensive here, too. I see Mexican berries in supermarkets but will have to keep an eye out for Florida.  I suspect I’ll be looking for a long time!

Expand  

Especially since California is notorious for not allowing foreign (meaning from other states) plants and plant products in!  I'm part of a fruit group on FB and many mango growers are in Florida but they all say that they're not allowed to ship to CA.

  • Like 3
Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted

As for commercial strawbs Driscoll's is ubiquitous here in CA and elsewhere, although smaller operations do sell commercially here. In season, the alternative is our farmers' markets. My daughter in Atlanta buys boatloads of strawberries as the twins devour them. When I'm in Atlanta later this month and doing some shopping for her I'll look for Florida produce. I can't say I've noticed any difference in the berries when I'm there, but that proves nothing.

 

  • Like 1
blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted

Strawberries undeniably suffer from shipping and the riper they are, the more they suffer so the longer they need to travel, the firmer and less ripe they need to be when picked.  NYC is quite a bit closer to Florida than to California so I’m not surprised by @weinoo's observation.  
Once you get into the middle of the country that's more equidistant, it also gets more complicated to gauge shipping times, impacts of ambient temps, etc. 

Local berries will always be best and in many areas, their short season makes them even more precious. 

  • Like 2
dscheidt

dscheidt

Posted
Posted
  On 3/31/2025 at 4:15 PM, weinoo said:

 

I find that the Florida strawberries are so much sweeter and more strawberry-flavored (which is why I left the berries on the shelf at Trader Joe's) than the California ones.  

 

 

 

Expand  

 

Even the Driscoll strawberries from FL tend to be okay.  I had some for breakfast.  (The CA ones are awful, at least by the time they get to chicago.  I assume this is because Driscoll grow strawberry shaped Styrofoam blobs, instead of fruit, because they ship better.  Other growers from CA are better, but tend to have more damaged fruit.)  There also tends to be a very brief moment when they're shockingly cheap. 

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)
  On 4/3/2025 at 1:23 PM, dscheidt said:

Even the Driscoll strawberries from FL tend to be okay.  I had some for breakfast.  (The CA ones are awful, at least by the time they get to chicago.  I assume this is because Driscoll grow strawberry shaped Styrofoam blobs, instead of fruit, because they ship better.  Other growers from CA are better, but tend to have more damaged fruit.)  There also tends to be a very brief moment when they're shockingly cheap. 

Expand  

 

Agree with all.  I hoped to make clear that I was basically referring to the large, commercial operations, like Foxy and Driscoll and maybe Naturipe (which I see a lot at Traders).

 

Anything local, small-farmed, etc. is going to be better than the styrofoam, which are basically crap.

 

Edited by weinoo (log)
  • Like 2

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
Posted (edited)

It is my sense that Driscoll, like Sysco, has a menu of products that differ by quality and price, so that while berries shipped to different locales can be branded, they may indeed be of different quality.    But in the end, time from picking to sale is the biggest determinant/detriment.   Having grown up in strawberry country, I was brought up on berries literally hours from the field.   Even now, I am reluctant to buy from farm stands because they often pick too ripe, resulting in a fruit lacking that burst of fresh flavor.  

Edited by Margaret Pilgrim (log)
  • Like 2

eGullet member #80.

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

I've been pleased with berries from Driscoll's Sweetest Batch.  So far I've had their strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...