Chocolate Coated Strawberries

In France strawberries are always labelled with their variety. Some varieties are much more popular than others, and last week I just missed out on the Gariguettes from my preferred local strawberry producer at the market. So I bought Candiss instead. 

This was a variety I'd never heard of, but they looked lovely. They are a particularly bright shiny scarlet red, with bright yellow seeds and a round conical shape. Quite juicy, soft, not terribly aromatic, they have a good balance of acid and sweetness. The fruits are large, about 20g each, and keep well. The plants are vigorous, upright, easy to harvest and resistant to disease, but only produce one crop a year, fairly early in the season, from April to June. It is a variety that was released in 2008.

Candiss strawberries.

I decided to dip them in chocolate. For those who take an interest in such things, one chocolate coated strawberry is about 60 calories.