Britain’s record sunny spring has caused a bumper crop of sweeter strawberries across the UK, with some growers reporting 20 per cent more production than usual.
According to Tesco, the supermarket has put one kilo boxes of strawberries for three pounds on sale to help growers offload the larger than anticipated crop.
The Met Office announced last week that Britain enjoyed 573 hours of sunshine between March 1 and May 27, beating the previous record for that timeperiod of 555.3 hours, in 1948.
Tesco stated it had bought an extra 300 tonnes of strawberries so far, as the sunlight and added warmth quickly ripens the fruit.
“The fantastic UK weather and extra sunshine so far this spring has brought on British strawberries faster than expected with many growers seeing production 20 per cent higher than normal for this time of year,” said Tesco berry buyer Laura Mitchell.
“And it’s resulted in exceptionally good quality and sweet strawberries with sugar levels boosted by the plants enjoying the longer, sunny days.
“British strawberries have a great reputation for being the best in the world because of our perfect growing conditions and the extra crop we have just bought are classic – sweet, juicy and luscious.”
The record sunshine levels have contributed to bumper strawberry crops right across Britain including Kent, Essex, Sussex, Hampshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Scotland and Wales.
Phillip Busby, of Busby Partners, Chilcote, Warwickshire, which has supplied Tesco strawberries for over 25 years said: “Tesco is helping the growers move excess crop, saving on food waste and with quality being so good it’s a really great offer for their customers.”
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