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Key Takeaways
- A new varietal of strawberry is coming to stores, and it's especially sweet.
- The strawberry is the latest offering from Oishii, growers of the famed Oishii Berries, and is its most affordable product yet.
- We tried the new berries, and here's our honest review.
It seems like each time I go grocery shopping, there’s something new—okay, more like many new things on shelves. As a food editor, it’s quite literally my job to stay on top of what’s new and now in stores, and I usually expect those products in the snack aisle, or maybe the fridges and freezers. But there’s one area that’s not typically seeing a lot of innovation: the produce section.
That’s why when I hear about a new banana that won’t brown, or a first-of-its-kind garlic hybrid, I get particularly excited. And now, just in time for summer, there’s a hot new piece of produce coming to grocery stores.
Oishii Introduces New Nikko Berry Strawberries
Oishii
While we like to think of most fruits and vegetables as singular entities—a banana is a banana, broccoli is broccoli—there are often many varietals within each, even if we’re only seeing the most popular or widely-grown type in the grocery store. We’re familiar with different kinds of potatoes, tomatoes, and apples, but there are lots of different strawberries, too.
One company working to expand the availability and quality of produce is Oishii. The company uses vertical farming, a cutting-edge way of growing indoors to yield produce all year-round—not just in spring and summer. The brand is most known for its Omakase and Koyo strawberries, but expanded into tomatoes last year with its first offering, Rubī tomatoes. The tomatoes and berries are known for their summer sweetness no matter what time of year it is—and the hefty price tag that comes with that promise. But now Oishii has a new berry, and it’s the brand’s least expensive offering to date.
The Nikko Berry is the latest strawberry grown and sold by Oishii. It’s described as having a “a lively tartness, crisp texture, and balanced sweetness.” Notably, the Nikko strawberry plants grow more berries per plant than any of Oishii’s other varietals, which allows them to be sold for less than others. They’re still pricey at $7.99, but more in line with specialty pesticide-free berries from other brands like Driscoll’s. The new Nikko berries are currently sold in grocery stores, including Whole Foods, in 13 states, as well as online.
I got a chance to try the new strawberries to see if they live up to the hype—and the price tag. Here are my honest thoughts.
My Honest Review of Oishii's New Nikko Strawberries
Courtney Kassel/Allrecipes
I'm a huge strawberry fan and grew up visiting family in California, where some of the sweetest berries imaginable are grown, so my expectations were high.
My first thought when tasting them was that the Nikko berries have a pleasant level of tartness, and are not candy-sweet. Texturally, they’re pretty darn close to perfect—a little firm and not mealy at all, and super juicy. Like drip down your chin, juicy. The sweetness level is not as high as the peak-season strawberries I can find in May and June here in New York (or April to May in California), but they’re still plenty sweet, just in a more balanced way. And notably, they purport to be this sweet all year long—not just in spring and summer. To have this sweet a berry in the depths of fall and winter is a marvel—and well worth the price tag in those colder months.
Courtney Kassel/Allrecipes
So while I’ll likely stick to the farm-fresh berries while they’re in season now, I will certainly be picking up a pack of these once summer is over. At $7.99, they’re definitely more of a treat than an everyday staple, but what better sweet treat could there be than a summertime strawberry year-round?
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