Everything you need to know about the premium Japanese strawberries that just launched in Toronto

A positively delightful strawberry has been making headlines since its entrance into the U.S. market just a few years ago. It’s been dubbed the berry that “tastes like summer” — and now, it’s time for Toronto to have a taste.

Behold the beauty that is the Koyo Berry, a flavourful and all-round gem brought to you by the geniuses at Oishii, an innovative fruit grower. This Japanese variety of strawberry will be lighting up tastebuds across the city — and I was lucky enough to have the chance to try it first. 

Here is my experience tasting the Koyo strawberry.

The Koyo Berry way 

Oishii

So what’s the hype? Well, let me tell you, dear reader, that you truly haven’t had the full strawberry experience if you’ve never tasted the Koyo Berry. Ripe year-round, pesticide- and GMO-free, the Koyo is honestly a work of art. 

Just looking at the bright red jewel will have you longing for a bite. Firm, perfectly plump, and ruby red, the berries arrive in a package with an aroma so sweet, you can smell it through the box. 

Oishii

Koyo Berries are grown in the world’s largest indoor smart farm, located in New Jersey. Within these farm units are endless rows of stacked shelves, teeming with beautiful berries and LED lights.

Oishii’s growing techniques ensure a pesticide-free environment, using solar power to grow berries year-round. They are well known for this innovative fruit technology, bridging sustainability, cultivation, and Japanese growing techniques to create absolutely delicious berries.

It’s no coincidence that Koyo in Japanese translates to elated! 

Memories of strawberries from long ago 

Oishii

Now for the taste test. Do you remember being a little kid and devouring strawberries in the summertime — that kind of joy that comes with sun-warmed berries and sticky faces? That’s what it’s like to try a Koyo Berry, like tasting a strawberry for the first time in your life. 

Take a bite and dive into a subtle tartness that grows into full-blown refreshing sweetness and balanced acidity. Seconds later, when the berry is resting in your stomach, you’ll know what I’m talking about. 

For me, the berry invokes more than taste. It brings me back to picking strawberries with my family as a little girl — loading baskets and baskets of red Ontario berries into the car (and sneaking handfuls on the way home, of course).

The bright sun, the smell of the berry plants, the laughter of my sisters. Can a strawberry bring about a longing for childhood innocence when the days were long and carefree? Call me emotional or a reminiscer, but there is something so magical about the Koyo Berry that I can’t quite escape it. 

Toronto’s Koyo Berry debut 

Oishii

Starting this month, the Koyo Berry will officially enter the GTA market, available at Fortino’s and other fine retailers.

Even more exciting, select restaurants will be debuting the Koyo Berry on their menus. See for yourself how these talented chefs transform and highlight the superior taste and quality that is the Koyo Berry. 

As for me, I am a full Oishii convert. Do I dare call this magical creation the best strawberry I’ve ever had? I do. It’s something you have to try to believe, so that means now is the time to visit the Oishii website to find your closest market or restaurant.

Now go forth in berry bliss!