Straw blimey! Research finds the common weight of strawberries has soared by 60% in simply 12 years, whereas raspberries and blueberries have doubled in measurement since 2011
- S&A Group says strawberries have risen from 13.6g in 2011 to 21.5g this 12 months
- Raspberries have doubled and blueberries have trebled in measurement in similar interval
- However Peter Decide, of S&A Group, says greater fruit do not all the time ship flavour
The typical weight of Britain’s favorite berry has soared by 60 per cent up to now 12 years, it has been reported.
Strawberries have risen from 13.6g in 2011 to 21.5g this 12 months, S&A Group, the UK’s largest unbiased provider, mentioned.
The typical diameter has additionally boomed, from 23mm-25mm in 2011 to 27mm-41mm in 2023.
Reflecting buyer demand, different berries have adopted the pattern, with typical raspberry sizes doubling up to now 20 years and British blueberries trebling in measurement over the identical interval, The Times reported.
The will increase come as agronomists domesticate ‘extra fascinating varieties’, in keeping with the trade physique British Berry Growers.
Strawberries have risen from 13.6g in 2011 to 21.5g this 12 months, S&A Group, the UK’s largest unbiased provider, mentioned
Different berries have adopted the pattern, with typical raspberry sizes doubling up to now 20 years and British blueberries trebling in measurement over the identical interval
And those that purchased British strawberries and raspberries this summer time may need discovered them extra flavoursome than regular, reportedly due to slower ripening on this 12 months’s cool spring.
Peter Decide, group managing director of S&A Group, instructed the paper: ‘UK retailers consider greater berries are what the shoppers need, however it’s honest to say they don’t all the time ship flavour.
‘Now we have a range known as Woman Isla, which is definitely a small berry however is our best-flavoured strawberry. It’s not all the time the case that huge berry equals huge flavour.’
The business strain to develop bigger fruit got here from UK shoppers and was at odds with preferences on the Continent, the S&A Group mentioned.
However supermarkets ask that suppliers don’t pack punnets with strawberries greater than 45mm throughout as a result of clients need worth for cash.
Nick Marston, the chairman of British Berry Growers, added: ‘This measurement spec enhance is about permitting clients to waste much less fruit when hulling the strawberries and giving nicer-sized items if the berries are lower up.
‘It’s also about visible enchantment – good-size ‘daring’ fruit does enchantment to shoppers greater than a pack of a really massive variety of very small berries.’
