Inspire strawberries from The Greenery is at the top of its class. "I am very happy to have the Inspire!", says Ton de Weerdt, Manager of Quality Control, The Greenery. "This strawberry is just very good quality." Perfect? The Inspire is not perfect yet, but it performs very well compared to other strawberry varieties due to its clever breeding. "We have been working with this Inspire strawberry for about four years now and have very good experiences. We classify almost all Inspire strawberries as class 1!"
"On which aspects does the Inspire stand out compared to other varieties? Inspire stands out in terms of taste, shape, color, shine, and shelf life. And, if I were to put a tray of Inspire strawberries in front of you right now, it would just really be empty in five minutes," Ton says.
Class 1 and 2 quality standards are European standardised and set in Brussels. "Within class 1, we at The Greenery still have four different qualities that we classify strawberries according to. We inspect for things like size grading, temperature, brix value, and packaging. And what many people don't know: the crown of the strawberry is also important. Is the strawberry superb, but not the crown? Then it is still not class 1."
High brix value
The desired brix value is customer-dependent, and therefore not generally set.
"We require a brix of at least 8 for strawberries under the Sweet & Sunny label.
The Inspire is a flavor strawberry, which means we demand a high brix value ourselves.
That value can reach between 10 and 12 in extreme cases. But beware: with a high brix value, the rest of the strawberry must also be absolutely right."
Ideal conditions
Inspire is only grown in the greenhouse; something that has a positive impact on quality. "Other strawberries are also in tunnels and outdoors. There, of course, weather conditions affect quality many times more than in the greenhouse. In the greenhouse, you can regulate conditions much more. The Inspire's production is very even without peaks, which is very nice," says Ton.
"Last summer, the Inspire strawberry in the greenhouse also proved to be of exceptional quality. Many strawberry varieties ripen too quickly under summer conditions in the greenhouse, causing them to become soft quickly and prone to pressure spots. Inspire also holds its own with flying colors under these conditions, allowing the grower to continue with the normal picking schedule.
For more information:
Klaas de Jager
The Greenery
M 06 53 84 24 02
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.thegreenery.com