why are grocery store strawberries (around here we get Driscoll’s brand) big with a hard white interior? Why are they so different than homegrown strawberries?

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Even when overripe/rotten, the insides seem to be white. Compared to homegrown strawberries, they are flavorless. Are they a different variety?

In: Biology

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A lot of fruits are picked before they’re ripe and are artificially ripened using ethylene gas. They do this for tomatoes too. It keeps the fruit from going bad on its way to the store.

Anonymous 0 Comments

2 things at play.

Being picked too early so they are hardier for travel and have more time before they spoil.

Being bred for hardiness and pest resistance rather than flavor.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Picked too early. Strawberries don’t ripen after they’re picked. Smaller strawberries are generally sweeter than the big fat ones. As a kid growing up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, spent many early summers picking strawberries back in the late 60’s. Fat ones are only good for strawberry fights.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One strawberry is polyploid (multiple sets of chromosomes, 8 sets) the other, instead, is naturally diploid (2 sets of chromosomes).
The polyploid strawberry is bigger, has fewer seeds and a bright red colour

Anonymous 0 Comments

I haven’t seen hydroponics referenced yet. NFT hydroponic grows changed the manufacturing space for strawberries.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Literally today I cut up some strawberries that were red all the way through and thought wtf is wrong with these strawberries.

Anonymous 0 Comments

One big factor is likely to be the variety of strawberry that is grown.

Commercial varieties are chosen for their pest resistance, storage and transportability etc.

Homegrown varieties are more likely to be chosen for flavour, colour etc

Anonymous 0 Comments

Have you ever grown strawberries or gotten them from a farmers market? Fresh, ripe strawberries only last a couple days, so they wouldn’t be able to travel those distances.