!!!
The birth of a wonderful strawberry.
No comment to that.
Hey guys it's Cathy Cat the Strawberry Hunter.
I found out that there is a place where you can go strawberry hunting in Tokyo...
without traveling to the countryside...
In Nishi Funabashi there is an all-you-can-eat strawberry hunt farm.
The best thing is, they farm several types of ichigo...
or strawberry so you can enjoy different flavors...
So many strawberries, I am gonna eat you up!
Here I am, nice to meet you. - Hello
What's this place called? - Strawberry garden "Erdbeere"
"Erdbeere"? - Yes...
"Erdbeere" as in the German word for strawberry!?
Exactly!
Thanks for using German in the name giving of this place!
I have high expectations for this. Can you show me around?
Wow it looks great. It's warm and the air is full with the smell of strawberries.
Sniff sniff
There are so many strawberries lined up in here.
In almost every line we have a different breed.
You can taste their differences.
Right now we have 7 different strawberry breeds.
I didn't even know there were that many.
You will experience that they all taste different. Try it.
Please show me around. Let's have one of each.
There are tricks to hunting strawberries. Let's hear them.
First choose a strawberry that is completely red from front to back.
Those are the sweetest.
Hold the stem, then flip the strawberry upside down, and you can pluck it easily.
Could you show us an example? I am a bit nervous./
Pull the stem gently, turn the strawberry upside down...
If you pull it to the side, they are plucked easily.
I will give it a go too. Let's do this.
Gently turn her upside down...
Like this...
They almost come off automatically...
I did it
This smells so good.
What's this strawberries name and her trait?
This one is from Shizuoka Prefecture and called Akihime. She tastes like sweets.
Let's try it!
The strawberry is so soft!
I don't need to bite her. She just melts.
She has an elegant taste.
You got that right. She is a gentle tasting strawberry.
I thought the other one was red, but this one here is even more RED.
And so big and round!
Wow they are so big.
My nose... bigger than that. My eye... bigger than that...
My forehead.... half the size maybe.
This is super juicy!
They are also deep red inside.
This is pretty good.
Peach Berry? Berry Peach?
Yes, even though it's a strawberry that is like a peach.
It looks tasty. She is a bit smaller than the others, but looked wedged full of flavor.
This one here is a normal shape, but actually the weird shapes taste better.
Weird shapes taste better?
Same for other breeds. If they look a bit weird, they generally taste even better.
So if you go strawberry hunting, finding weird shapes is part of the fun.
Let's try her.
What is this!!! Is this a peach?! A PEACH!
Is this a strawberry or a peach? Why? How?
This has quite an impact.
Yes it has distinctive peach tastes with it.
To be honest with you, I thought it would only have a hint of peach in it.
Like when you have to try hard to trace that soft hint of peach in it...
But it wasn't like that. Really. It's like PEACH!
The best peach and the best strawberry married...
and that was the birth of a wonderful strawberry.
This strawberry is very rugged... Iike Germans...
Rugged!
Yes that does look strong and rugged.
Guten Appetit! (German)
This one is really different again. How tasty.
This one has a real bite to it.
The flesh inside is tougher too. Again, a bit like a German.
That's true. German strawberries are quite hard at times.
Harder but also sweet. - Hard, sweet and tasty.
The others were very soft, but having a bit to it now is satisfying.
What's up next?
The next one is a new breed, the Chiba Berry.
We are in the Chiba region right now too, right?
Yes this is a new breed of Chiba.
You say a new breed. Are there a lot in Japan?
There are several hundred types in Japan.
That sounds like a lot. Isn't it hard to develop new ones?
You can't create a new breed in 1-2 years...
Generally it takes several decades until a new breed gets released.
Let's eat.
This one. This one here is almost half the size of my hand.
...be gentle...
This one looks like the strawberries on my dress. Lookalike!
So different again. Especially the fragrance and the aftertaste is clear.
Yeah it has a fresh aftertaste.
First sweet, then fresh.
Chiba is great.
The "Oi C" is written with a C
That's because it contains 1,7 times the amount of vitamin C of a normal strawberry.
C stands for Vitamin C. Not C as in CathyCat.
No comment.
I will eat now. Wow this is so big.
These ones are nice and rounded cones and have vibrant colors.
Be gentle...
Wow look at the size of her...
This is not the size of a berry anymore. It's like a fruit.
I have reached the point when I don't know from where I should eat it.
Let's try.
I can't fit her in my mouth.
The taste and the pattern is beautiful.
So tasty and sweet.
That's the type of strawberry you see in pictures.
Beautiful and so good.
I am so happy right now.
This is so good and they are huge. They are bursting with flavor.
Last one now.
The last one is the famous Tochiotome breed.
You changed the order, is there a reason behind it?
This one has a very dominant taste.
That's why I brought the one with the strongest flavor last.
The strongest one! Let's try!
WOW! YUM! WOW!
This is great
They are all so good.
I can't pick the best one. I wanna eat them all again.
So it's time to ask more tips from our "Erdbeer Meister", strawberry master.
What got you into farming strawberries?
I lived in Germany and came back to Japan...
I met a strawberry farmer teacher.
He gave me a lot of know how.
And since then, for 20 years, I am farming strawberries.
What's your hint for making tasty strawberries ?
Simply said: LOVE.
Are there some foreign customers too?
Yes I have customers from China, the Philippines and Thailand.
So a lot of foreign visitors.
Can you speak English too? - I am not very good at it.
- Can you speak a little? - I can but my German is better.
Well I am personally happy that I can also speak German with you.
I was happy to find out so many connections to Germany here.
Erdbeere is German...
I was happy, thank you so much.
Thank you too.
I will come again. - Please do.
Do I have a strawberry seed stuck between my teeth?
If there was one, I'd be so embarrassed!
It was a day of strawberry fun.
They are big, juicy and have a strong taste.
I can tell Japan is trying to make the best strawberries in the world.
If you come to Japan, be sure to enjoy a strawberry hunt too!
And people from Japan: Let's enjoy Strawberry Hunt season!