The first Dutch Elianny strawberries have been auctioned for charity at Koninklijke FruitmastersGroep in Geldermalsen.
Grower Van Beusichem, from Eck en Wiel, offered the strawberries under the Prestige quality label.
The first eight 200g punnets of Elianny were bought by Fruitmasters Holland for The Summer Fruit Company in the UK, for €148 (£116.50) a punnet. The total profit was donated by Van Beusichem to the Stichting Kinderen Kankervrij (KiKa), a charity for children with cancer.
The quality of the new strawberry variety places it firmly in the top segment of the market.
The Elianny variety originates from Vissers Aardbeiplanten BV, and was created though a process of natural cross breeding in 1998.
Elianny was subsequently subjected to various tests in the following years, which revealed it to be a vigorous and healthy variety that mainly produces Class I fruit.
