“The first strawberries from Plougastel will be on the shelves this week”

The strawberry grower Les Fraises de Mathilde sells four varieties from Plougastel: the Gariguette, Dream, Magnum and Clery. “The strawberries are picked the day before they arrive in Paris, which usually happens between 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning,” explains Mathilde Laurent, founder and manager of the company. The strawberries are transported under controlled temperature to preserve the organoleptic properties of the fruit as much as possible. The strawberries are available from mid-March until the end of June, in grocery stores, bakeries, big restaurants and hotels in Paris and the surrounding area.

A sustainable production, 100% from Brittany 

The brand Les Fraises de Mathilde is committed to buying its strawberries mainly from the family farm, which follows agricultural practices that respect the ecosystems. “We turned to sustainable farming. The strawberries are produced in suspended gardens in greenhouses, a production method for strawberries that my family started in the mid-1990s. The first fruit will arrive in Paris around the 15th of March.” The demand is still low because of the cold weather but this should improve from the beginning of April, as it did last year. 

The strawberry, a family affair
Les Fraises de Mathilde was born in December 2020 but the strawberry is a family affair. “We have been producing strawberries for five generations. My great-great-great grand-parents created a cooperative, the Shippers Union, in order to export to England the strawberries bought from the producers in Plougastel. Several years later, my family has focused on strawberry production again. Today, I get part of my supply from the family farm and sell it to professionals in the Paris region.”