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Fruit & Orchards

Strawberries are too tart!

15 years ago

Hi --

Last year my husband and I planted 100 june-bearing strawberry plants (I believe they were Jewel variety), to go along with the around 25 ever-bearing strawberry plants (tristar) that we had. This year's harvest is beginning, the plants are absolutely loaded with berries, but our first berries [this goes for both varieties, but more so for the june bearing] -- are TART! And before you ask, we waited and picked only the deepest red berries, but they are still so tart that its not that pleasant to eat them unless directly dipped in sugar. Any idea what could be causing this? And is there anything we can do to remedy?

Many thanks in advance!

Emily

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Comments (9)

jellyman
15 years ago
Emily:

No, there is nothing you can do. I don't know about Tristar, but Jewel is a tart berry. A wonderful, flavorful, firm berry, and excellent for freezing. But tart. Most strawberries grown in the east seem to be like that. You will hear tales of varieties like Fairfax, Sparkle, Mara Des Bois, Alpines, etc. etc., but they all have their drawbacks. None will produce like Jewel in an eastern climate.

Sugar is the remedy.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
fearlessem
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks so much Don -- this helps to hear. At least I know its nothing we did. And its good to know they freeze well, as we have lots of freezer space. The production on these 100 plants is unbelievable though... Any suggestions for what to *DO* with frozen strawberries (other than frozen strawberry margaritas? :-) )

On a positive note, I made some strawberry "agua fresca" with them today and it was fantastic. Basically -- fill a blender container half full with strawberries, then add water to about 3/4 full, along with a few Tbs of sugar. Blend, then strain, and have the most refreshing strawberry water ever!

Emily
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Oy, the best laid plans . . . First I couldn't find the phyllo cups at Wegman's where I did my grocery shopping yesterday. Maybe they had them but I looked and looked and since I hate shopping as it is, I gave up. All they had was regular sheet phyllo dough. Maybe those phyllo cups are falling out of favor commercially. They were never great IMHO, but a passable lowfat holder for yummy fillings. BUT also, local strawberries were $4.00 a quart, and this country girl just could not pay that. I am going picking next weekend, g-d willing! Rhubarb was $4.99 a lb. at Wegmans and I drove around to two other markets and couldn't find strawberries any cheaper or any rhubarb at all. I gave up because I had to cook the dinner and not spend my whole day running after rhubarb. I found out my guest had rhubarb all along growing in his garden and didn't bring any, so phooey on him I don't feel so bad about not serving strawberry rhubard anything. BUT I did make a tart. I used this "Eating Well" recipe I found online for an apple tart, and morphed it into an apricot cherry tart. I had apricots that had been macerating in brandy and lemon thyme, and I cooked them with 1/2 cup apple juice, lemon zest, 1/2 stick of cinnamon and 1 TBLSP of lemon juice and 3 TBLSP sugar. YUM! The custard in the recipe was VERY GOOD. The crust was just OK though. The apricots were very rich, which was not necessarily a bad thing, but I think this custard will be a good tart filling for rhubarb strawberry if I ever get around to making one. I'd like to take a photo but I lost my camera's flash drive memory gizmo for downloading. Here is a link that might be useful: Eating Well Apple custard tart recipe
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samsthumb
15 years ago
Zone 5....strawberries here are tart, June bearing and some hydroponic ones too.. I think it is too much rain and too little sun.
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
15 years ago
My Earliglow and Anapolis were great in size and flavor. Jewel came along later and were huge and not too bad either. Mesabi are fantastic producers but are very low growing and when the weather is wet, they can have some rotting....as can even Jewel. Jewel has such huge leaves and height that it is hard to get it dry down in there when wet like these last days have been.
goodground
15 years ago
My Tristars get plenty of sun and are also on the tart side.
I get some that are very sweet but most have a hint of tartness to go with a good stawberry flavor.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:117617}}
bcfromfl
15 years ago
I planted a row of Sparkle (June bearer) to extend the season a bit, but my experience is identical to yours. They're getting a little better as they near the end of the season, but I've decided I'm going to tear out the row and plant something else. The berries are small, and just not good enough to warrant the space and fertilizer.

My other rows are Eversweet, which is a good berry in this climate. A little larger, and sweeter.
fearlessem
Original Author
15 years ago
Well good news is that the Jewel strawberries are getting markedly sweeter as the harvest goes on! I'm surprised, as we've gotten a lot of rain, and in my experience that typically washes the flavor out. But the flavor is definitely improving, and doesn't taste watery at all...

But good grief do we have a huge harvest -- picked 15 pounds yesterday, probably another 8-9 today...
mosesong
15 years ago
Hi all, I'm having the same problem, except that I think my strawberry plants are Ozark Beauty. Also, the berries are very small. What do they do differently at the commercial end to make have plump and sweet berries?

Here is my strawberry journal:
http://www.mosesong.com/?p=88

I'm thinking of getting a new batch to start over, but what variety should I get? I like fresh berry, so it has to be big and sweet, is Honeoye the right choice?
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
15 years ago
My experience with Honeoye is that is produces heavily large berries that are a beautiful deep red and are very rot resistant. What more could one ask for...? some more flavor that's what. Your experience could be different

maybe.

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