British strawberry season officially open
We've broken the British record with the arrival of the first British strawberry crop of the season at 8.00am on 14 March 2008.
We've scored another first with the arrival of the first British strawberry crop of the season at our Hull store. The first tray of punnets arrived from the East End Nursery at Keyingham, fifteen miles from the store, at 8.00am on 14 March 2008. The strawberries have received the final all-clear by expert grower Peter Overvoorde, owner of the East End Nursery in Keyingham, and officials from the Summer Fruit Company, suppliers to Sainsbury’s.
Strawberries are judged in a taste test carried out by the grower and supplier which deems whether they meet Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference grade, triggering release of the crop to the store.
A special delivery van was on stand-by to deliver the punnets, thereby declaring the British strawberry season officially open.
Mr Overvoorde’s strawberries are grown in glass houses near to the coast, where light conditions create optimum growing conditions. The crop was planted at the end of 2007. Phil Finegold, general manager of Sainsbury’s Hull said: “We’re delighted to be the first supermarket to stock British-grown strawberries this year and it’s an honour to have them in our store. After weeks of gales and rain, it’s great to celebrate the approach of summer with one of the most famous summer tastes.”
Stocks of new season strawberries will begin to arrive at Sainsbury’s stores throughout the UK in the next few weeks as the season begins in earnest.
