As "Pfalzmarkt für Fruits und Gemüse eG" reports, the first strawberries of the new season are being harvested in the Palatinate. 
True to the motto "Strawberries - ready - go", the warm weather and the bright sunshine of recent days act as natural maturing and flavor enhancers. The popular fruits now get "wonderfully red and sweet very quickly" it says in the press release.
Just like Pfalzmarkt producer Frank Fischer from Rheingönheim, many other strawberry professionals in the "Gemüsegarten Pfalz" have already started to get their fruits from the fields. This means the harvest of the early early strawberry varieties, cultivated in foil tunnels, starts almost at the same time as last year.
The open field season starts at the beginning of May
As the strawberries, which are now being picked, are still relatively picked in small numbers, they mostly get to the consumer via direct marketers. If the weather is good, Germany's market leader for home-grown fruit and vegetables is expecting the first open field strawberries from the Palatinate, starting in May. From this point in time at the latest, Germany's central trading platform for fruit and vegetables will again deliver to consumers nationwide via the food retail trade (LEH) with larger crop yields.
Early maturation
As far as strawberries are concerned, the Palatinate can cater to certain natural flavor benefits, that are linked to the climate and the ripening conditions With an acreage of about 500 hectares, within Germany the Palatinate is a rather small area, but the cultivation is all the finer, certainly the early strawberries. Pfalzmarkt growers, which grow fruit on around 186 hectares (in 2018), make up more than a third of the acreage for strawberries. And they are able to shine very early, through natural ripening and local flavor benefits. Thanks to these climatic advantages, the red fruit of the Palatinate is always around 10 to 14 days earlier than in the northern regions.
Reinhard Oerther, CEO at Pfalzmarkt eG says: "This year we expect very good volumes and top quality. Assuming that our 40 strawberry producers at 'Pfalzmarkt eG' will not be thwarted by the weather in the next few days! "The warm weather and the brilliant sunshine of the last few days are natural maturing and flavor enhancers for fresh strawberries from the Palatinate.
Target: Around 1.87 million punnets
Within the roughly six-month strawberry season, Pfalzmarkt eG lives up to its reputation as the leading trading platform for freshly-produced fruit. From its locations in Mutterstadt, Maxdorf and Hatzenbühl, around 1.87 million 500-gram punnets were picked in 2018 after which they were transported nationwide to the connoisseurs within a few hours through excellent fresh logistics.
Pfalzmarkt board member Hans-Jörg Friedrich explains: "Depending on the weather, strawberries in the Palatinate are already starting to bloom in March. Due to the weather conditions of recent years and possible frost damage during flowering, there is a trend towards protected cultivation."
For more information:
Pfalzmarkt für Obst und Gemüse eG
Neustadter Str. 100
67112 Mutterstadt
Phone: 06231 / 408-0
Telefax: 06231 / 408-222
E-Mail: info@pfalzmarkt.de
Internet: www.pfalzmarkt.de