The berry was developed under KG's agreement with Driscolls of the US under which the UK soft fruit producer and marketing organisation selects and grows varieties for the UK market on a exclusive basis.

Jubilee is a late summer fruiting berry available from mid-July to October, but the fruit presented to the Queen last week had been specially grown under glass for the occasion. It is a high quality everbearer and KG is running commercial trials in 2002 and 2003 with Marks & Spencer selling the fruit exclusively in 25 of its stores.

'Jubilee has a superb strawberry flavour,' said KG managing director Nick Marston. 'It has a very good shape and a good orange red colour and is potentially even better than Elsanta. We are rather excited by the prospects.' Meanwhile, recent cool weather and rainfall has slowed the ripening process for strawberries in the UK's main producing areas leaving growers shorter on volumes than they had predicted at this point in the season.

Peak availability is therefore likely to coincide with the first week of Wimbledon at the end of June and supplies are forecast to enjoy a more even spread. 'Fruit is still coming on stream, but it is coming more slowly,' said Marston. 'Supplies are likely therefore to be more steady for about six to seven weeks rather than experiencing the usual peaks.'

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