Strawberries with bubble gum aroma arrive in The Netherlands

From theglobalfruit.com:

Photo: The pineapple strawberry.

Beekers Berries in Made, Netherlands, is growing a number of exclusive varieties in their greenhouses, alongside the regular varieties. Wil Beekers, together with Hans de Jongh, decided in 2008 to close a deal for the exclusive growth and sale of the pineapple-strawberry and raspberry-strawberry that are handled by VitalBerry.

In the meantime, after years of growth research and growth optimisation, there is also a strawberry with ‘bubble gum aroma’ available, the Bubbleberry™. “This product will be available again in our range starting in 2014,” shares Ghislaine van Berkom from VitalBerry.

Ghislaine says that demand has been very good this year for these special strawberry varieties. “There’s a lot more demand than last year. The pineapple-strawberry is familiar to a widening audience. It’s sold throughout Europe and beyond. The pineapple and raspberry-strawberry are available from March until around Christmas. We’ve noticed that demand declines from mid-July. Our peak really lies in the springtime.”

“We strive to have a slight increase in volume each year. However, pineapple and raspberry-strawberries are niche products. It’s not easy to increase volumes due to their complicated cultivation characteristics,” Ghislaine continues.

“Inquiries are made through all available channels because of the remarkable characteristics of the pineapple-strawberry and the raspberry-strawberry. The prices of our specialities are more stable than of the familiar red strawberries, but they do vary each season. We only apply occasional discounts in cases of increased production.