Supersize Strawberries Signal Sweet Start To British Berry Season

The UK’s spell of bright spring sunshine has delivered more than just a welcome break from the grey—it’s sparked an extraordinary surge in strawberry growth, with British growers reporting berries so large “you cannot fit them in your mouth”.

At the forefront of this fruity phenomenon is Bartosz Pinkosz, operations director at the Summer Berry Company, who described this year’s crop as “something I have never seen in 19 years”. The West Sussex grower is currently harvesting what he calls “giant” 50g strawberries, thanks to a rare combination of intense sunshine and cool nights.

“We had the darkest January and February since the 70s but then the brightest March and April since 1910,” said Pinkosz. “From March onwards it was really kind of perfect for tunnel strawberries. The berries are between 10% and 20% larger.”

While the average berry clocks in at around 30g, Pinkosz said many are closer to the size of plums or even kiwi fruits. “The slower the development of the fruits, the more time to expand the cells and create the bigger berry,” he explained. “It has been a perfect start to the strawberry season for us ... I have genuinely never seen a harvest produce such large berries consistently.”

The Colworth-based farm supplies major retailers across the UK, with the bumper crop making headlines ahead of Wimbledon—a time when strawberry demand traditionally spikes.

Nick Marston, chair of British Berry Growers, confirmed the exceptional quality of the current crop. “We’re seeing very good size, shape, appearance, and most of all, really great flavour and sugar content, which is what consumers want when they buy British strawberries,” he said.

Marston added a note of cautious optimism: “I’m always a little cautious of saying strawberries are 20% bigger because there’s an average involved and some crops will be slightly smaller than others. But I think it would be fair to say the very nice sunshine, the cool overnight temperatures, are ideal for fruit development.”

The impressive berry boom has been echoed in other early crops too. The warm, dry start to May—one of the hottest on record—has also brought forward harvests of aubergines and tomatoes. However, the unrelenting dry spell is prompting concerns about water shortages, particularly across the south-east of England.

“Water shortages would be a concern,” Marston noted. “However, berries are grown using drip irrigation so water is used very sparingly.”

With Wimbledon just around the corner, there’s every chance tennis fans will once again be treated to a mouthful—perhaps more than a mouthful—of the juiciest, most generous strawberries the British summer can offer.