Local strawberries now available in Chiang Mai?

[Dario]

Hi everyone up there,

 

my wife is leaving tomorrow night with a bunch of her colleagues from the sub-district office on their annual trip which will lead them to Lampang, Lamphun and Chiang Mai. Many years ago we used to buy local strawberries along the road from Chiang Mai to Mae Rim. Are there any people selling at this time or is it already over?

[pgrahmm]

They're around.....My wife found some at one local market - after being surprised that a bigger local market had none....

If you can find them along the way buy strawberries closer to/grown on Doi Inthanon = very sweet, red, soft, & succulent.....Reminded me of the ones from Calif, excellent.....Buy a lot they get eaten quickly.....

 

The others around CM are from Somoeng and just kind of, meh, ok....

Edited January 28, 2018 by pgrahmm

[flare]

We got some fantastic strawberries at Royal Flora Ratchaphruek on Saturday at the small market near the parking lot (you don't have to enter the park itself).  Big, red (no white sections), and sweet for 120bt per pack- I'm not a huge strawberry fan, and I ate a bunch.  I don't know if that market is held everyday or only on the weekend, though.

[simoh1490]

We live in Mar Rim and travel the road you mention daily and have not noticed any strawberry sellers but there are plenty of pick your own places open for business in the Mesa Valley (Samoeng Road) - in Samoeng itself there's a bunch of farms where you can do this, we were up there last week and it was just starting to get busy. Tip - if you decide to go to the Mesa Valley, ignore the first few farms which seem to get al the business and are packed, there's plenty more further down the road.

[Dante99]

Shops are on the Canal Road about 1km North of Huay Kaeo Road on the East side and were selling yesterday.

[EricTh]

9 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

They're around.....My wife found some at one local market - after being surprised that a bigger local market had none....

If you can find them along the way buy strawberries closer to/grown on Doi Inthanon = very sweet, red, soft, & succulent.....Reminded me of the ones from Calif, excellent.....Buy a lot they get eaten quickly.....

 

The others around CM are from Somoeng and just kind of, meh, ok....

Where (which road and market) can i find these from doi inthanon?

 

 

[pgrahmm]

54 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Where (which road and market) can i find these from doi inthanon?

 

 

We were out by Chom Thom - it depends where your travel takes you.....

Best guideline seems to be the redness of color.....Somoeng strawberries usually show more white than red....

Anything from the Royal gardens (Doi Inthanon for one) are going to be good....

They have to be in season - the ones we had were about 2 weeks ago.....

There's a Queens garden up Somoeng Rd, but I'm not sure whether they grow strawberries there.....

The strawberries at Pai are better than the Somoeng strawberries, but they usually just sell locally.....

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by pgrahmm

[Justfine]

12 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

We live in Mar Rim and travel the road you mention daily and have not noticed any strawberry sellers but there are plenty of pick your own places open for business in the Mesa Valley (Samoeng Road) - in Samoeng itself there's a bunch of farms where you can do this, we were up there last week and it was just starting to get busy. Tip - if you decide to go to the Mesa Valley, ignore the first few farms which seem to get al the business and are packed, there's plenty more further down the road.

Is that area busy everyday or just weekends?

[simoh1490]

46 minutes ago, Justfine said:

Is that area busy everyday or just weekends?

It's heaving over the Xmas New Year hols. but things have settled down now, it's easily doable any day of the week, we went on a Saturday and it was fine.

[Justfine]

11 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

It's heaving over the Xmas New Year hols. but things have settled down now, it's easily doable any day of the week, we went on a Saturday and it was fine.

You know any good resorts in area for 1000 to 1500 baht?

[simoh1490]

15 minutes ago, Justfine said:

You know any good resorts in area for 1000 to 1500 baht?

I'm sorry I don't, we live nearby so we've never had a need. But Sukantara is lovely, trouble is it starts about 8k a night currently, we go there for a coffee or lunch sometimes because it's a beautiful setting:http://www.sukantara.com/en/Chiang-Mai-Luxury-Holiday-Packages/

 

More seriously, rates everywhere will stay high until March when the hot season is confirmed, until then perhaps take a drive around and go and ask, not all of them are busy and you can haggle, I'm sure you can find something decent.

[jonwilly]

In past years I have not been able to find Good Tasting Strawberries in CM.

The ones on the canal road looked god but where poor for taste.

Best I ever found where in the Royal Project Shop located off Suthep Rd close to junction with canal road.

Only by traveling out to Samong was I able to purchase Good Tasting Strawberries at B10/ small box.

 

john

[Justfine]

53 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

I'm sorry I don't, we live nearby so we've never had a need. But Sukantara is lovely, trouble is it starts about 8k a night currently, we go there for a coffee or lunch sometimes because it's a beautiful setting:http://www.sukantara.com/en/Chiang-Mai-Luxury-Holiday-Packages/

 

More seriously, rates everywhere will stay high until March when the hot season is confirmed, until then perhaps take a drive around and go and ask, not all of them are busy and you can haggle, I'm sure you can find something decent.

That's ok. Won't be until mid year. I found one for 1500 on the southern part of road that looks good.

[simoh1490]

We went to a farm in Samoeng last weened with a Chinese friend, she and my wife spent an hour picking strawberries and ended up with one kilo. each! The salesgirl then took each strawberry, one at a time, inspected it and placed in in a plastic container in rows, rejecting any strawberries that had blemishes etc. By the time she was done she had a bucket of some fifty or more rejects which then got passed over to the cafe to make drinks, she was amazingly thorough - this was in Samoeng, turn right at the T Junction in town and go out a couple of kilo's following the yellow signs, on the left..

[sanemax]

I did notice that quite alot of the strawberries in CM markets were green , they looked unripe

[Justfine]

5 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

We went to a farm in Samoeng last weened with a Chinese friend, she and my wife spent an hour picking strawberries and ended up with one kilo. each! The salesgirl then took each strawberry, one at a time, inspected it and placed in in a plastic container in rows, rejecting any strawberries that had blemishes etc. By the time she was done she had a bucket of some fifty or more rejects which then got passed over to the cafe to make drinks, she was amazingly thorough - this was in Samoeng, turn right at the T Junction in town and go out a couple of kilo's following the yellow signs, on the left..

Long day doing that. Lucky 20 people weren't in line.

[khwaibah]

Sambaing Strawberry Festival is coming up next month. When is does you will have roadside stalls line up shoulder to shoulder from Chiang Mia to Lampang on highway 11. Keep your eyes on City News and TAT for exact dates. Last year it was about February 7. The early berries are good but the premos are around the corner.

 

[Dario]

29 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

Sambaing Strawberry Festival is coming up next month. When is does you will have roadside stalls line up shoulder to shoulder from Chiang Mia to Lampang on highway 11. Keep your eyes on City News and TAT for exact dates. Last year it was about February 7. The early berries are good but the premos are around the corner.

 

 

Thanks for your recommendation. But my wife will leave Chiang Mai this Thursday.