Look for unblemished strawberries with bright-green hulls. Just one variety of strawberry, Elsanta, s for 80 per cent of the British fruit sold in UK supermarkets, although many other varieties are available from farmers' markets and pick-your-own farms and are worth seeking out. Try to buy only British strawberries where possible: you'll be rewarded with a better-tasting product, because Britain has a climate that's ideally suited to growing soft fruits.
If you buy freshly picked fruit from local farms or visit a pick-your-own farm, you'll be getting produce that's approaching the peak of ripeness in contrast to imported fruit, which is likely to have been picked early. Locally-picked berries also have less impact on the environment. Be prepared to pay more for local strawberries too: they're often more expensive than fruit grown in the Mediterranean or even South America.
Although the Elsanta variety is justifiably popular, environmentalists point out that a 'strawberry monoculture' is not good for biodiversity. Pick-your-own farms are more likely to offer less-familiar varieties such as Florence, Alice, Rosie, Cambridge Late Pine and Rhapsody, each with its own flavours, aromas and growing seasons.
