Why Does This Single Strawberry Cost $19?

The $18.70 that I paid for a half pound of 300-day-aged Gorgonzola from Italy last week felt worth it to me. As the name indicates, there’s nearly a full year behind this specialty cheese’s complex, savory flavor, and a half pound of it will go a long way — I’ll be crumbling the intense and admittedly pricey dairy product on salads all week long.

What about $19 for a single strawberry? That seems well beyond the point of reason to me when it comes to grocery prices, but according to content creators who have been posting their reviews of a very special strawberry over the past few days, it might be the appropriate price to pay for a perfect piece of fruit.

Multiple users have posted clips of themselves trying the luxury berries they purchased at upscale Los Angeles-based grocery chain Erewhon, with the reviews quickly racking up millions of views throughout last weekend. It’s no surprise that these videos garnered so much attention — in addition to their $19 price tag per fruit, these berries from luxury Japanese fruit vendor Elly Amai come packaged individually, set on a soft cushion inside a miniature plastic cloche to protect the strawberry.

Some content creators say this is the best strawberry they’ve ever had, while others note that it’s delicious but doesn't merit the hefty cost. Whether or not you’re willing to spend the dough is up to you — although I think we can all agree these aren’t the kind of berries you’ll be packing in your kids lunchboxes or turning into a big batch of jam — but before you decide to splurge on a single strawberry, there are a few questions about what this fruit is and what makes it remarkable that you may want answered.

What is the $19 strawberry from Erewhon?

Elly Amai is the ultra-luxe fruit purveyor that distributes and sells these strawberries, but it isn't the farm that grows them. These are Tochiaika strawberries, grown on a farm named Anhay in the Tochigi prefecture of Japan. Tochiaika strawberries are a fairly new variety — developed through crossbreeding over the course of seven years, starting in 2011  — and it’s not surprising that they’re grown in Tochigi, a prefecture that’s often nicknamed Japan’s “strawberry kingdom.”

Related: These Strawberries Cost $780—Are They Worth It?

What makes them so prized? These delicate berries are known for their heart-shaped profile when sliced down the middle, but above all else, their perfectly sweet taste. Per information that Elly Amai shared with Erewhon, these berries are not sour at all, and the vendor explains that high quality strawberries in Japan are those that have minimal acidity. The berries are only in season from December to June, which explains why you’re seeing them crop up in stores now.

There isn’t a lot of visibility into why this specific variety of strawberries is so expensive, but it’s likely thanks to the same factors that have made other high-end fruit from Japan pretty pricey. Luxury Japanese fruit is typically grown in smaller crops, and meticulously cared for to ensure that the produce being sold looks and tastes perfect. In this case, that means a medium-large berry with a flawless red exterior, heart-shaped profile, and very sweet flavor. If a strawberry isn’t pristine, it won’t be sold.

This attention to perfection extends to when the berries must be eaten. They are at peak ripeness for a very brief time and arrive at an Erewhon location within 24–48 hours of being harvested to ensure their quality doesn’t degrade before purchase.

According to Elly Amai, the price that customers are paying at Erewhon is similar to what you’d pay for these berries in Japan. It even notes that the Tochiaika berries might be slightly less expensive in the United States because the purchasing power of the Japanese yen is at an all-time low, and Elly Amai receives lower rates for introducing farmers to new markets. While the purveyor does mention that the airfreight cost of shipping a berry to the United States is almost equal to the price of the fruit, it does not detail how this impacts the final cost to American versus Japanese consumers.

How are you supposed to eat it?

Do not cook this strawberry no matter what. In fact, you don’t even need to slice it — as its presentation indicates, the berry is delicate, and its vendor recommends that you simply eat it from your hand. Besides Elly Amai's suggestion, other resources on Tochiaika strawberries also say that they are usually eaten by hand.

The method of consumption for these berries gets even more specific than that. Their purveyor notes that you should only touch the fruit with your bare hands if you plan to eat it within three to four hours. Elly Amai also recommends letting the strawberries breathe at room temperature for roughly 15 to 30 minutes before eating them, to elicit their aroma and sweetness. This might sound silly, but considering that content creators have said a single fruit made their entire car smell like strawberries, it could be worth it.

Related: How to Keep Strawberries Fresh for Up to a Week

If you want to try one of these berries for yourself, you’ll likely need to source them from Erewhon. It seems that Elly Amai has plans to directly sell full boxes of high-end Japanese strawberries through its website, but they're not currently available for purchase, and the web page for these berries doesn’t note if they’re the Tochiaika variety.

So how can you snag a coveted $19 strawberry? Erewhon notes that they're selling quickly, and are exclusively available at the grocery store's locations in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and Santa Monica. These stores will be receiving a large re-stock of the berries this Thursday, with more arriving next week, and customers can purchase the fruit via the Erewhon app for delivery or pickup from these locations. Score some as soon as they're re-stocked, then film a review in your car — maybe you'll even go viral.

Read the original article on Food & Wine