In the markets of the capital, the price of strawberries reaches 3600 rubles per kilo
The authorities solemnly call the seasonal start of the strawberry trade the – and they promise that at least 150 outlets will open in the capital during the summer, where you can buy berries. Today, berries are brought from the southern regions of the Russian Federation – from the Krasnodar Territory, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Rostov regions, very soon they will be joined by strawberries near Moscow. It is what many are waiting for: someone because of local patriotism, and someone for a very prosaic reason: the southern one is still painfully expensive, at least 450 rubles per kilo.
On Friday, May 26, there were reports in the media and social networks that Muscovites, they say, «were indignant at the price of strawberries at 500 rubles.» This is the average cost of berries in strawberry kiosks. This is not the limit at all – for example, in one of the shops on Trekhgorny Val, Kuban strawberries were found with a price tag of 700 rubles per kilo.
The Danilovsky market offers strawberries from the Crimea for 900 rubles per kilo. The market on Leninsky Prospekt does not see the coast at all: Greek strawberries are sold at 3,600 rubles per kilo, and Crimean – at 3400. The most interesting thing is that someone is obviously buying: there is a supply, which means there is a demand.
Cheapest leader – Preobrazhensky market: there a kilogram of strawberries costs 480 rubles. It's time to remember that we live in the era of capitalism: it means that each product costs exactly as much as they are willing to pay for it here and now.
The most pleasant prices are offered by individualist merchants – they often occupy the «post» in underground passages, near large shopping centers and so on. A kilogram of strawberries will cost an average of 350-500 rubles – as experts explain, these are the berries that were bought in bulk at giant markets outside the Moscow Ring Road. True, you need to be on the lookout with them: it can easily happen that beautiful selected berries will lie on top, but muck and rot will be found at the bottom of the box.
– Of course, I will not allow customers to dig into the strawberries and check the whole box, — the saleswoman laughs unkindly, standing with a “strawberry counter”; near the metro in the south-west of Moscow. – But I can share a secret: you can ask to pour the berries from the box into a transparent bag. Then the lower, «suspicious» berries. And if suddenly there are really spoiled strawberries, of course, I will replace them. But not everyone thinks to do so. Well, in general, everything is simple: if you want a choice – buy for a thousand rubles, and I have here for 400. Draw your own conclusions.
The trader reminded: when buying, you need to pay attention so that there are no white spots and stripes on the strawberries – this is a sure sign that the berry is unripe, and this is fraught with digestive problems. She also explained the reason for the people's love for strawberries near Moscow – it's not about the local patriotism of Muscovites, everything is much simpler.
– A friend of mine who grows once came up with a good comparison, which I now use all the time. Where there is a lot of sun, well, in the south, the berries ripen quickly, but they turn out to be as if empty. Watery. They can be compared, for example, with a sixteen-year-old girl: she is ripe, yes, but still immature. That's exactly the same with strawberries, grapes, but with anything. In the northern regions, the fruits take the sun gradually, slowly, and are ripe, saturated. Therefore, strawberries near Moscow are tastier than Egyptian ones.
However, many city dwellers do not go into such nuances: everything is much simpler in their picture of the world. Strawberries at 1000, 700 or even 500 rubles per kilo, alas, are not affordable – especially against the background of the crisis. This means that you will have to wait not just for the Moscow region, but for those who grew up in their own dacha or in the dacha of friends – one that you can get, if not free, then very, very cheap.