Strawberries with petals

Morning Glory

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I've no idea if this is unusual - but I bought some strawberries today in Sainsbury's Local opposite the B&B where I'm staying - and they have petals. I've not seen this before. Is it a new fad to sell them like this? These are British grown. They were delicious, by the way!

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It looks like the blossoms are still attached. How big were they? If they were really small, maybe they were wild strawberries.
 
It looks like the blossoms are still attached. How big were they? If they were really small, maybe they were wild strawberries.

They were really rather big. About an inch and a half across. They aren't going to be wild - too early in the UK. No doubt they were farmed in polytunnels. I've gone strawberry picking in fields in the UK and don't recall the petals bring attached when they are ripe. It was a very long time ago though - so maybe my memory is faded.
 
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They were really rather big. About an inch and a half across. They aren't going to be wild - too early in the UK. No doubt they were farmed in polytunnels. I've gone strawberry picking in fields in the UK and don't recall the petals bring attached when they are ripe. It was a very long time ago though - so maybe my memory is faded.
They are not normally attached. Even on home grown ones.

As you say they are effectively forced strawberries grown in poly tunnels. One of the major suppliers of such strawberries was only a few miles at from a house we lived in in Surrey. We loved the for 12 years so found out quite a bit about the area. They grew them in fields alongside the A3. I would imagine that the current weather you've been having had ripened them very quickly and this means with enough water, they would also grow very quickly hence not having had time to shed the petals. Just guessing here though.
 
I bought some more the other day from Aldi - different type and source but UK grown and some of them also had petals.
 
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