There are too many variables to give an absolute answer. For starters, where are you gardening, geographically? The flavour will also vary depending on the soil, moisture, sun etc. You mention seed stores but you’ll get the best varieties by buying plants, not growing from seed, unless you're going to grow alpines.

and.. each plant is biennial ... growing one year.. blooming the second.. and then sending out runners .... after which the old plant is removed ..

so.. most will not be long lived production plants ...

its not that it is hard to manage.. but you will have to understand how Ss grow ...

i have never grown the alpines.. so the story might be different with those ..

are there any strawberry farms where you live .. picking your own is a whole different game from the grocery store...

ken

Sorry, ken, but that’s rather confusing info. ‘Biennial’ has a meaning and strawberries are not biennial, they’re perennial. Commercial growers might discard plants after a couple of years but it’s not a botanical necessity and home gardeners have no need to do so. They’ll still get strawberries. A strawberry bed can crop for years. The runners can be kept to expand the bed with new plants or they can be removed, but the parent plant can go on cropping much longer than one year.

Floral is correct. Like many fruit bearing plants, the "best" variety is dependent on geographical location. And "tastiest" is a purely subjective evaluation.

I can tell you the most popular varieties for home gardeners in my area but they may not do well or even be available in yours.

This is prime time for planting starter strawberry plants in many parts of the country. I'd suggest a visit to your local nursery/garden center and see what they offer. If several different kinds, get a few plants of each type and then determine which you like the best and do well for you and plant more of those next season.

agree.. i had trouble with what i was trying to explain ... they arent true bi's.. but i have a hard time calling it perennial since momma dies regularly ...

whatever .. i agree with you guys ...

point is.. this isnt going to just be buy a couple plants.. and easily grow them in pots.. unless you have a lot of experience with pots ... not to mention winter issues with pots.. depending where where is ... etc ...

all that said.. taste is entirely subjective ... my kids grew up with all the sour candies.. and they enjoy things i spit out.. lol ... and strawberry is naturally within that conundrum ... for me.. about 25% are to die for.. and the rest of the pack.. yuck .. lol ... works out well since between us.. the whole pack is eaten .. lol .. given a small bowl of sugar ...

but the couple times i took them to pic them .. omg.. straight form the field warmed in sunshine .. it was a near religious experience ....

the big problem with the grocer.. is that they need to be picked unripe.. for shipping .. and some cases.. halfway around the world in the local off season ...

ken

I live in the Poconos, Easter part of Pennsylvania. I grow tomatoes and I know that big stores don't offer the best varieties of tomatoes. Their focus is on the look and production rather then on the taste. I bought only plant available at Lowe's which was Ozark Beauty and I am ready for it to be mediocre plant. In terms of seeds the only strawberry seeds which they offer was Alpine which I bought and started, however I found that there are many different types of alpines and Burpee did not even bother to provide that information.

In terms of my preference with taste I would say that I am looking for high aroma and intense sweet and complex taste. I don't care about size and look, productivity etc. If in order to achieve the result I need to use special type of soil and the feed I can do it.

Ozark Beauty is actually a very highly rated everbearing variety and widely adapted. No reason at all for it to be 'mediocre' :-)

Here are a couple of links from your local Penn State extension service to help you out:

Best Strawberries for PA

Growing Strawberries

Ozark Beauty is likely a tasty variety. My one experience was not good. In June they were little blueish plants and produced nothing. In August they came on well and set on nice berries. the trouble was that the black oats bugs ate them...still nothing. Yeah, I knw it would likely be different on another trial of them.

I would generally recommend June bearers. Day neutral take some extra fuss and tend to bear just a few at a time.

Thank you guys, that was very informative! BTW, I am growing in containers and I am considering to grow indoors as well. I guess indoor varieties are more universal. What is the best know indoor type?

There is no such thing as "indoor varieties"! While they can be grown indoors (with effort), they are not intended to and indoor growing conditions rarely will result in a successful harvest. Just not enough light to do the job. You can pick whatever varieties you like for this purpose but personally, I would just stick to planting them outside.

Actually most any strawberry you grow yourself is going to taste better than the berries you buy in a grocery store

Speaking of strawberries, I set out 100 plants in a new patch to go along with the others planted the other day.

Today I set out Jewel, Flavorfest, Cavendish, and Early Glow. Earlier I set out Galletta, Sonata, and Cabot.

Barmaleyka, as others already mentioned, a lot depends on your conditions. I tried several varieties in the Mid-Atlantic, and they were all tasteless in my garden. The early varieties did the worst because I would always get tons of rain around the time they should be ripening, so they got huge, watery and bland. Also, I had clay soil that was slow to drain.

I tried to grow some strawberries here in the desert, and they were all sweet and delicious! Exactly what I was looking for all those years. But they don't live through the summer, and I don't have the time and energy to treat them as annuals (plant in the fall, harvest in the spring and pull out).

I would recommend getting at least three different varieties -- early, mid-season and late -- and see which variety works best with your weather.

Is it true that the most sweet strawberries are the ones which are not the largest? I think medium size varieties may get higher sugar content. Is it true?

Not true. The flavor depends on the weather (sun = sugar), spacing (overcrowding = sour taste), amount of rain (a lot of rain = bland). As with other crops, the soil also contributes to the taste. There's a reason certain areas are know for their specialty crops. I believe strawberries do better with light, sandy, slightly acidic soil.