Jersey strawberries are here!

While visiting my favorite farm market (Red Top in Southampton) we noticed they were putting strawberries out on the shelves. Are those Jersey berries?!?! Yes, they are.

You probably won't find them in your local supermarket, but head to your favorite farm stand or fresh produce market and they should be there. If you've never had local New Jersey strawberries, you haven't tasted a real strawberry.

If you love strawberries and are used to having those Driscoll brand berries all year long, try one of ours. The taste difference is spectacularly noticeable. Those other strawberries come from California and Mexico, and they'll do I guess the rest of the year, but not now.

Last week a local market had fresh strawberries from North Carolina, picked the day before. They were a little better than the ones shipped from California but not like our Jersey berries.

Jeff Deminski photo

If you're looking for a fun activity for the whole family, try strawberry picking. The pick-your-own farms are about a few weeks away from letting the public dig in. Here is a pretty good list from last season on where you can find one in your area. Strawberries are one of the many fruits and veggies that New Jersey does exceptionally well.

As a matter of fact, New Jersey is home to the largest indoor vertical strawberry farm in the world. It opened last May in an old Anheuser-Bush factory in Jersey City. The Japanese firm Oishi operates their flagship indoor farm on Linden Avenue. One can only hope they taste as good as outdoor farm-grown produce.

(courtesy Von Thun Farms)

Earlier this year they introduced a new strain of strawberry called the Koyo berry. The Oishi berries are available at Whole Foods.

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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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