Danish Honeoye Strawberries from Samsø

The Honeoye strawberry is a unique hybrid developed in the 1970s at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Cornell University. The variety is a cross between the 'Vibrant' and 'Holiday' strawberries, with 'Vibrant' chosen for its reliable productivity, while 'Holiday' was chosen for its size, hardiness and firm fruit. This unique combination resulted in the Honeoye variety, which is known for its stability, high yield and good shelf life. Today, this strawberry variety is grown on sunny Samsø, among other places, where Kastbergs Gourmet-Is uses it in our Strawberry Sorbet and Strawberry Ice Cream, as it gives a beautiful, natural and intense colour. Honeoye strawberries are known for their large size and deep red colour, and they typically thrive in Danish fields in moderate climate conditions. At Kastbergs, we have chosen Honeoye strawberries precisely because of their intense red colour and rich flavour, which make them perfect for our Strawberry Ice Cream and Strawberry Sorbet — giving them a delicious, refined taste of Danish summer. Although Honeoye strawberries are not popular with supermarkets because of their dark colour, as private customers mistakenly believe they are overripe, we think they are the best strawberries for our products.

We are among the very few who make use of this wonderful strawberry's flavour and intense colour in our production. Taste the difference for yourself next time you visit us. We can promise you a truly unique taste experience of Danish summer.

Samsø has a moderate climate that is ideal for bringing out delicious Honeoye strawberries and making them extra flavourful. The island's extra hours of sunshine give the strawberries better conditions for ripening under optimal circumstances and help add extra flavour to the berry.

In autumn and winter, the sea around Samsø is relatively warm, which helps push temperatures in the municipality up among the highest in the country. In spring, the cool sea in turn dampens cloud formation over the island, which gives a good deal of extra sunshine. When the wind comes from the west, it has to some extent died down after crossing the Central Jutland Ridge, so the westerly wind is not felt nearly as strongly on Samsø. In summer, the cool sea around Samsø also helps reduce the risk of showers, which makes the municipality the driest in Denmark. The dry climate also means a good deal of extra sunshine compared with the national average. In three months of the year, Samsø is the sunniest area in the country, and looking at the whole year, only Læsø gets more sun. DMI has carried out measurements showing that Samsø, for example, has an average annual temperature 0.4 degrees higher than the national average, and at the same time it also gets almost 200 more hours of sunshine on average than the national average. All of this benefits the flavour of the berry greatly.

Samsø has a moderate climate, as described above, that is ideal for bringing out delicious Honeoye strawberries and making them extra flavourful. The island's extra hours of sunshine give the strawberries better conditions to ripen properly. This allows Kastbergs Gourmet-Is to offer you the most flavourful Danish strawberries, as Samsø Bær supplies strawberries of the highest quality for your enjoyment. Read more here about Samsø Bær, which supplies strawberries of the highest quality for Kastbergs sorbets and ice cream.