Figuring Out the Overriding Flavor Factor for Strawberries
February 19, 2022 What makes some strawberries taste better than others? It is an age-old question, according to Marvin Pritts, a Professor of Horticulture at Cornell University. Variety and time of harvest are frequently cited as reasons, he says, but growers also speculate about soil nutrient levels, frequency of pesticide application, and weather.
“This is played out a lot in the literature, where you look at comments about organic production vs. conventional production,” Pritts says. “There are a lot of comments that organic strawberries taste better than conventional.”
But what occurs when comparing the same variety in the same location? A field trial conducted between 2018 and 2020 by Pritts and Cornell Extension Specialist Anya Osatuke aimed to pinpoint that answer while controlling for ripeness, soil type, precipitation, solar radiation, and growing degree days (GDD).
IT’S NOT THE GROWER
‘Jewel’ strawberries from 22 farms were sampled for Brix, titratable acidity (TA), and volatiles, such as the emitted gases that “we perceive as flavor when they hit our nose,” Pritts says.
The Cornell team concluded that management practices did not significantly affect several factors, including Brix, TA, percent of marketable yield, firmness, foliar carbon, taste, smell, and phenolic content.
“We just didn’t see it,” Pritts says. “Our field trial suggests that there’s not much payoff, in terms of enhancing strawberry flavor, by deviating from what you’re doing now.”
The only difference worth noting was that foliar nitrogen content and total yield were higher with conventional management and higher rates of nitrogen. Organic management, with its additional costs, such as labor for weed control, microbial supplements, and organic fertilizers, offered no benefits for growers looking strictly at flavor compounds, Pritts says.
“I’m not saying that organically grown strawberries can’t provide flavor benefits. I’m just saying that within the three years that we did it, we weren’t able to detect those differences,” Pritts says.
The true difference-maker, Pritts says, is the weather. “The cooler it is, the sweeter your fruit is going to be,” he says. “That seems to be the factor that’s driving everything — the weather during fruit development. Warm days, cool nights. That’s pretty much the whole story.”
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