Big Berries

FRI, APR 19 2024

19:45:18

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Author: Mark Bolda

Published on: April 10, 2017

Certainly a lot of big berries around right now. The CalPoly program posted a picture of a 102 gram berry on its Facebook page, and here we are shown one mondo fruit out of a local strawberry breeding program that tops out at 130 g and another weighing in at 109 grams (plus the weights are proven by photographing them on a scale). What's more, we are shown six fruit of the same cultivar as the 109 g specimen that each weigh over 100 grams. As the CalPoly page points out, cultivar, along with time of year and of course producer skill, is what brings in the big berries.

It's pretty notable that all of these berries were picked today and nevertheless after the substantial amount of rain we got this past Friday and Saturday they are completely free of blemish or water soaking. Remarkable rain fastness for a strawberry.

Photo 1: 130 g for a single strawberry fruit is massive - the sheer size of this monster dwarfs the ten cent piece on top.

Photo 2: 109 grams for a strawberry that's really tolerant of rain.

Photo 3: Six very large fruit - same cultivar as Photo 2 above - on the top loading balance. Note the dime ($0.10) on the center one for a sense of scale.

Comments: 5

Comments:

by Gerald Holmes

on April 11, 2017 at 11:32 PM

Impressive! The world record is 250 grams, but it's a grotesque amalgamation of several fused fruits, barely resembling a strawberry. These are the real deal; no fusing of multiple fruit. They don't get much bigger.

by Mark Bolda

on April 12, 2017 at 1:46 PM

It is impressive. I thought the breeder Kyle from CBC was going to send a comment also. At any rate, kudos to him and his group for achieving this.

by Jose A. Gomez

on April 13, 2017 at 2:11 PM

Wow!! really deep red color as well. Any comments on flavor/eating qualities?

by Mark Bolda

on April 13, 2017 at 2:33 PM

No comments on flavor or eating qualities since I wasn't there. Let's see if Kyle can answer that.

by Kyle VandenLangenberg

on April 14, 2017 at 11:16 PM

Hey Jose,

As part of our breeding program we taste a lot of different selections each week. However, I do recall that the fruit in the picture of 6 fruit were all fairly sweet. We see a lot of big berries, especially this time of year that have high quality (firmness and appearance) as well as good taste and texture.

Check out our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/cbcberry/) throughout the season to get updates about fruit we're seeing each week that excites us. If we find anything larger than these I'll be sure to post them. As Gerald suggested, the world record is 250g - I'd certainly like to beat it, especially with a berry that isn't an odd fusion of multiple fruit. Last year we had one near 200g, but it was a fan shaped berry and unmarketable.