We are well into strawberry season now, but which punnets are the pick of the crop and which hit a sour note? Back in 1994, I used to pick strawberries in Dorset to earn extra pocket money. It was gruelling but delicious work. We would shuffle on our hands and knees down furrowed rows of plants, picking those beautiful, fat red berries and trying not to eat too many along the way. We were paid by the punnet, which at my picking speed amounted to less than 1 pound an hour, unlike the impressively fast seasonal workers who came to our village every summer.
The Testing Method
I scored the strawberries below on sweetness first, using a Brix refractometer, which measures the sugar content of fruit and veg. Each Brix point represents 1% sucrose in the juice by mass. Sweetness is not everything, however, and some of these berries had a lovely, complex, honeyed or floral flavour. Tartness is important, too, for bringing balance and a refreshing quality to the eating experience. As a general rule of thumb, go for fruit with a bright red body, fresh green leaves and a powerful but fresh aroma.
I carried out this test before the heatwave in late May, so most strawberries in the shops should be much sweeter now, and supply chains may shift from the varieties I tested. Even so, this test is still a good indication of variety and farm quality. I was pleasantly surprised by provenance and transparency information, too, and there were some genuinely unusual varieties in the mix.
The Best Supermarket Strawberries
Best Overall: Waitrose No 1 British Speciality Strawberries
4 pounds for 365g at Waitrose (1.10 pounds per 100g). Four stars. Medium-sized, firm, orange-red Driscoll's Zara strawberries with matt skins and bushy green tops, grown by Littywood Farm in Staffordshire. A dense, firm, fleshy bite and gorgeously sweet – these score 11 on the Brix scale – and complex. Incredible value for an interesting variety.
Best Bargain: Morrisons Strawberries
2.50 pounds for 350g at Morrisons (71p per 100g). Three stars. A classic, candy-red, large variety called Malling Centenary. Grown in Kent, these have a simple, very sweet flavour profile with a Brix score of 10 and a tart finish.
M&S Collection British Red Diamond Strawberries
3.50 pounds for 400g at Ocado (88p per 100g). Four stars. A mixed selection of rich, sweet and sugary dark-red berries with an intriguing complexity. Grown at Hugh Lowe Farms in Kent by Marion Regan, one of the UK's most celebrated strawberry growers. Brix score of 10.
Exceptional by Asda British Strawberries
2.97 pounds for 350g at Asda (85p per 100g). Four stars. Medium to very large strawberries, complex and floral in flavour with a strong Brix sweetness score of 10 that is balanced by subtle sourness. An Italian variety called Ania, grown by Sandy Booth at New Forest Fruit in Hampshire.
Aldi Nature's Pick Strawberries
1.59 pounds for 227g at Aldi (70p per 100g), in store only. Three stars. A large, glossy, bright red and voluptuous berry with a subtle, floral flavour, a subdued sweetness – a six on the Brix scale – and vegetal notes. No details of farm or variety listed.
Lidl Deluxe British Strawberries
2.99 pounds for 400g at Lidl (75p per 100g), in store only. Three stars. A mix of large and small misshapen strawberries with light red skins and white tops. A variety called Blush, and UK-grown, these are surprisingly sweet considering their pale colour, with a Brix score of eight.
Ocado Organic Strawberries
3.50 pounds for 227g at Ocado (1.54 pounds per 100g). Three stars. A bright, glossy and rotund Soil Association-certified variety called Falco. Grown in Belgium, this is the only stated imported strawberry I tested, as well as the only organic one. Quite tart and less sweet than most, with a low Brix score of six.
Co-op Irresistible Pick of the Crop British Sweet Pioneer Strawberries
4 pounds for 227g at Co-op (1.76 pounds per 100g). Three stars. Uniform, light-red, medium-to-large Lady Grace strawberries grown in Herefordshire by S&A Produce. Floral, classic strawberry flavour and fragrance. Medium-sweet seven on the Brix scale.
Dyson Farming British Strawberries
4.30 pounds for 250g at Ocado (1.72 pounds per 100g). Two stars. Classic, glossy, pointy-nosed Malling Centenary strawberries grown year-round in a huge, 10.5-hectare (26-acre) Lincolnshire glasshouse using robotics, automation and renewable energy. Tart with a subtle florality, and medium-sweet Brix of eight. Sold in a cardboard punnet with a film lid.
Sainsbury's Taste the Difference British Strawberries
2.60 pounds for 250g at Sainsbury's (1.04 pounds per 100g). One star. A large, glossy, deep-red variety called MC1A, grown by Dyson Farming. Sold in a cardboard punnet with a film lid. Disappointing, vegetal and bland, with five on the Brix scale, the lowest score in the whole test.
