How to Choose Strawberries at The Grocery Stores: Tips and Tricks

The spring months mean only one thing: the return of strawberries, delicious fruits that cannot be missing from our tables until the beginning of summer. Sweet and juicy, strawberries are a very versatile ingredient, which you can eat alone or together with other fruits but also add to sweet and savory recipes. They are also a very beneficial food, low in calories and with a nutritional profile rich in many vitamins, especially vitamin C, and antioxidants. In short, strawberries are truly a food with great potential but to best enjoy all their benefits it is good to know how to orient yourself among the grocery shelves. How can you choose quality fruit, ripe at the right point and tasty? Here are some rules to always keep in mind.

1. Check the Appearance of the Strawberries

The best way to recognize good strawberries would certainly be to taste them, but if you can't do that you have to rely mainly on their appearance and in particular you have to learn to recognize the signs that indicate a strawberry of good quality and at the right point of ripeness.

• The color is the very first clue: good strawberries are uniformly red, because if they have white or greenish parts it means they are too unripe, while if they have areas that flow towards dark red/purple it means they are too ripe. The color, therefore, must be a bright and brilliant red.
• Also check that the stem is still attached to the fruit and that it is a nice green color, both indicators of the freshness of the fruit.
• Also note the consistency of the pulp, which must be firm and compact.
• Avoid baskets with even one bruised fruit: this means that it is beyond the freshness threshold and even a single strawberry will be enough to spoil all the others very quickly.

2. Prefer Local Varieties

One of the best ways to pick high-quality strawberries is to go for local varieties—whether they’re grown in your state or elsewhere in the U.S. Local strawberries typically have a shorter journey to the grocery store, which means they can be picked at their peak ripeness. Imported strawberries, on the other hand, often have to travel long distances, which means they’re picked before they're fully ripe. This can lead to fruit that either arrives under-ripe and lacking flavor or ripens during shipping and loses its freshness. Buying locally grown strawberries not only guarantees better flavor but also helps reduce the environmental impact of long-distance shipping. Plus, supporting local farms is a great way to boost your community and contribute to sustainable farming practices. As more people become aware of the importance of fresh, responsibly sourced produce, choosing local strawberries is a win for both your taste buds and the planet.

3. Avoid Buying Them Out of Season

Closely linked to the question of provenance is also the seasonality of strawberries: if you want a quality fruit, avoid buying it out of season. The strawberry season is between the end of March and the end of June, even if there are some early varieties and several late varieties that produce fruit even in the height of summer. So learn which types of strawberries you can find in a certain period of the year, to be sure that they are sustainable and non-intensive crops: only in this way will you be able to eat high-quality fruit and also help the environment by respecting its natural course.

4. Prefer Organic Strawberries

If you want strawberries with the best flavor and texture, choosing ones from organic farming is a great way to go. Organic strawberries are grown without harmful pesticides or chemicals, so you can enjoy a more natural product that's better for both your health and the environment. While they may cost a bit more, the quality is well worth the extra price. To make sure you're getting the real deal, look for organic certifications on the packaging, especially the USDA Organic label, along with the words "organic" or "grown with organic methods." Supporting organic farming not only gives you tastier strawberries but also supports sustainable farming practices that are better for our planet.