Most strawberries currently available on green markets and in stores are imported and it doesn't take an expert to recognise them.
Little town of Vrgorac in the Croatian south is renowned for one fruit – strawberries. So, if you are craving this juicy spring fruit we have good news for you. This year's harvest started a week earlier than usual, on April 15, 2016, because of a very mild winter and they should hit the stores and green markets across the country as early as next week.
Supermarkets and green markets started selling strawberries a few weeks ago, some are even labeled as "Vrgoračka jagoda" or "strawberry from Vrgorac" but just by looking at them you will be able to tell that they're not even close to the aromatic domestic strawberry we're used to. That's because most of the currently available strawberries have been imported (and they were still not even close to being ripe at the time they were harvested) so their taste is far from perfection.
Even the association "Vrgoračka jagoda" felt compelled to send out a press release to warn people that their famous strawberries are not in stores yet and that the ones available are falsly advertised: "Second grade fruits from Greece, Spain and Italy are advertised as Vrgoračka jagoda. Since their harvests are earlier than ours and they are now clearing the fields, we end up stuck with their fruit of inferior quality at a low price so when our strawberries come to the stores at a higher price, people are wondering why there's such a difference" says Lujo Mihaljević, one of the producers from Rastok.
More than 1,5 million strawberries were planted in the Vrgorac area and more than 150 families live from this fruit producing 60 to 80 wagons (wagon = 10 tonnes) of this delicious fruit.
First strawberries in Vrgorac were planted by Vojko Granić back in 1974 and now, 42 years later, this fruit has a protected geographic location, a status recognised all over the European Union.
All we can say is, if you are still wondering why there's such a difference in price, try one of the "plastic" ones sold at 10 kn per kg and then try the Vrgorac strawberry. One bite will be enough to convince you to spend a few extra kunas for the domestic product.
Photos by TZ Vrgorac
