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Comment by decafninja | Hacker News Reader

I've tried these, and they are by far the most delicious strawberries I've ever tasted. My wife is extremely picky about fruit, and she agrees.

That said...they are also extremely expensive.

For a slightly cheaper alternative, you can find strawberries imported from Japan that are probably 95% as good, albeit not as pretty looking. I've seen these going for about $30 for 10.

For a slightly more cheaper alternative, you can find strawberries imported from Korea that are probably about 90% as good, albeit not as pretty looking. These seem to go for about $15-20 for 10.

They're all significantly more expensive than the North American berries you find at the local supermarket, but they're also significantly better IMHO.

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What else have you tried? Have you picked your own wild strawberries? Have you gone to a farm that grows them and has a stand?

I'm very skeptical that they're worth $2 per strawberry.

Wild strawberries - no. Straight from the farm, both sold from a stand or pick-your-own - yes. Also whatever premium strawberries that sometimes show up at Whole Foods or the local premium/gourmet markets.

The Japanese and Korean berries are much better. I wouldn't buy them at whim without any thought. They're definitely a treat to indulge in.

Edit: One thing to bear in mind - the main characteristics of these Asian berries is sweetness. They're incredibly sweet, with a hint of tartness. I have not encountered this level of sweet in any North American berry, though I have once in the UK. The Korean berries are also slightly less sweet and slightly more tart than the Japanese ones.

If your preferred strawberry taste note is tart/sour, not sweet, then you might not like them. My wife's cousin prefers her berries tart, so she prefers the cheap berries you can find at any grocery over these Asian ones.

Speaking of expensive Japanese strawberries, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895DfGuoqvU. Seems so crazy, but I'm glad a niche like this is possible.

It's hit and miss even with freshly picked on a farm yourself strawberries I find. We regularly go pick strawberries in summer at local farms. It depends a lot on what variety you get to pick that day and whether the weather was favourable or not. There are some strawberries that are basically like the supermarket ones. I tend to ignore those rows. Not much in the taste department, either just watery or just sweet. They might smell a bit like strawberries but not really much. Those usually are the easiest to pick though and get home in one piece.

But then there are also some that just have an actual strawberry flavor. It's like an explosion of flavor in your mouth. Like the smell of a bucket full of strawberries but you can actually taste that when biting into the strawberry. I could stay there all day and just pick those and eat them right away. But then I wouldn't ever be able to make strawberry jam from them.

LOL just get berries from a farmers market, grown in actual dirt and not just the bare minimum chemical soup needed for them to survive.

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