In the morning, the sun was still rising over the English countryside, but Shakhboz Yakusiboev was up early. With the first light in the background, Yakusiboev was passing his one of the 50-yard-long polytunnels on this two-week mission.
His hands blur as he dashes through one shoulder-high strawberry plant after another. Yakushiboev grasped his fingertips and examined each fruit with his eyes. I needed to make a split-second decision whether it was too big or too small. Ripe or not yet ripe? Is the color just right?
Should I choose or should I not choose?
Yakusiboev, 30, a seasonal fruit picker from Uzbekistan, was part of a team of 32 who was the first in a chain to bring fresh British strawberries from Hugh Rowe Farms in Meerworth, Kent, during Wimbledon. be a member. It’s what you get at a two-week Grand Slam tournament about 30 miles away.
The strawberry and cream platter is as synonymous with Wimbledon as the honey deuce cocktail at the US Open in New York or the pimento cheese sandwich at the Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
About 10,000 liters of cream were used to coat the strawberries, and strawberry sales at Wimbledon rose from 140,000 in 2016 to a record 249,470 last year, according to tournament organizers. More than 2 million strawberries will be served at this year’s tournament, many of which will be eaten within 24 hours of being picked.
This corresponds to the need to harvest about 3 tons of strawberries every day. According to the farm, in terms of speed, during the harvester’s shift he will have 1 (exact) strawberry picked every 2-3 seconds.
Yakusiboev and his fellow pickers on the farm hail from Romania, Lithuania, Portugal, Ukraine, Poland, Australia, and more.
Marion Regan, 62, managing director of Hugh Law Farms, said: “Tennis is a very international sport and I think one of the great things is that everyone knows about the Wimbledon championship.” said. “You don’t have to explain a lot to pickers and workers about how important this is. They get it. They know it.”
But the fruit itself, which tends to come into fruition in June, also has a broad fondness among many Britons, who for centuries have associated the aroma and taste of strawberries with the onset of summer.
According to food historian Samantha Bilton, references to strawberries in Britain date back to at least the 16th century. written about strawberries For English Heritage, a charity that manages hundreds of historic buildings and monuments. At that time, small wild fruits were harvested fresh from the country’s forests and hedgerows and enjoyed at banquets, along with sugar and spices not available to the lower classes.
Such additives, including cream, overcame Tudor-era opinions that eating wild fruit was dangerous, and as strawberries grew in popularity, so did strawberry romanticism in literature. References to strawberries are found in the following works: Sir Francis Bacon, 1625Shakespeare’s “”Richard IIIand Jane Austen’s “Emma“
“It’s at its best when it’s in season,” says Bilton, noting that the roots of modern big British strawberries go back to the 19th century, when gardeners experimented with larger, juicier berries from imported strawberries. explained. from overseas.
It was this variety of strawberry that was first grown in Kent in 1893 by Regan’s great-grandfather Bernard Champion. The strawberries were picked fresh in the morning and driven by horse to Covent Garden Market in London, where they were sold the same day. All his England clubs across the city also popularized strawberries as a treat at the annual Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
Today, the operation of the tournament’s millions of strawberries is like a supercharged version of the champion’s approach, with not only same-day transportation from farm to point of sale in the capital, but also barcode and tracking, temperature control. , and vibration monitoring.
“Marion is the authority on strawberries,” said Wimbledon food and beverage director Perdita Sedoff. “I don’t think she knows anyone that she doesn’t.”
Hugh Low Farms became Wimbledon’s sole supplier of strawberries in the early 1990s, according to Regan, and took over control of the 1,700-acre farm from his father, Hugh Low, in 1995.
Strawberry planting takes place over several dates from January to April. This way, whether the spring heat is early or late, the farm will always be covered. Strawberry varieties made mainly for Wimbledon, or Maring Centenary, he ripens in June and, rather than permanently fruiting or having multiple harvests, he harvests only once in large quantities over a short period of time. will be
Weeks before the tournament, Regan and her team decided which of the farm’s 3,000 strawberry polytunnels would be dedicated to Wimbledon, and among some 800 seasonal workers, the coveted Choose someone to take on the role of the harvester.
This year, Yakusiboev and fellow harvesters have been looking for the perfect Wimbledon strawberry, focusing on strawberries planted on 15 to 20 acres of land (a small plot of about 400 acres dedicated to soft fruit). . According to Regan and Wimbledon staff, these shouldn’t be too big, so a good number (10) will fit in the Wimbledon panet. It should be red on the shoulder and no white under the green leaves. Strawberries should not be too soft and should have a good texture. (Even substandard fruit is sometimes used in convention-related jams, gins, etc. to save waste.)
Selected strawberries pass through the farm’s packing center, where each barcoded batch can be scanned to provide feedback to the harvester. The fruit is then cooled, weighed and packaged.
Around 5 a.m., a truck picked up the Wimbledon orders for the day, and Regan and her team added temperature and vibration monitors so they could be tracked on the farm.
On the second Monday of the tournament, about 170,000 strawberries entered the loading bay below Court 1 before 9am. The strawberries were then transported through a series of tunnels and across the ground to the preparation area, affectionately known as Strawberry Central, under Center Court. . There, the day’s fruit was dehusked by members of his 30-man crew, who work shifts from 8am to 11pm, with classic rock playing on the radio.
By 10 a.m., the stalls began to open, and after noon, tennis fans were lining up under large signs that simply read “Strawberries and Cream.”
On the adjacent deck, Kate Daly, 34, and Jarrus Daly, 42, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, sat enjoying their first visit to Wimbledon and their first taste of snacks on Court 1. headed to A few feet away from London, friends Sally Fitzpatrick, 26, and Phoebe Hughes, 25, had previously competed in the tournament. They knew the training.
Holding a red cardboard pannet filled with fresh cream-coated strawberries that have been selling for £2.50 (or just over $3) since 2010, Mr Hughes said: “It’s just nostalgic. ‘ said. to Wimbledon. ”
Back in Merworth, Regan, who often manages the farm and its most famous clientele in the evenings, gets tennis updates from his son Ben. Yakusiboev’s shift ended around lunchtime, but the next morning drivers, weighers, packers, cleaners, transporters, hullers, sellers and buyers would meet again to prepare for the strawberry trip. Become. From Seeds to Center Court.
“Today is a long time ago, but the day starts early, and it’s seven days a week,” Regan said. “But the reward is creating something that people really love. Everyone loves strawberries, so it feels like it’s worth the long day.”
