Wimbledon strawberries preserved: Huge 750kg crop will be turned into jam after this year’s tennis tournament is cancelled due to coronavirus
- Eating strawberries with cream is a tradition at the Wimbledon Championships
- But the tennis championships have been cancelled this year due to COVID-19
- Tournament organisers have ordered 750kg of this year’s stock to go into jam
- The rest of this year’s stock with go to supermarkets, schools or foodbanks
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
They are all part of the experience for tennis fans who are happy to part with £2.50 for a bowl of them.
But despite the cancellation of this year’s Wimbledon, they can still enjoy the taste of strawberries – as jam.
The two-week tournament, which was due to start on June 29, would have sold up to 38 tons of the fruit in nearly 200,000 portions.
There will be no strawberries and cream at the Wimbledon Championships this summer after coronavirus cancelled the infamous tennis tournament in south west London this year
With the Wimbledon Championships selling around 38 tons of strawberries each year, the tournament organisers have asked for 750kg of the fruit to be turned into jam, with the remaining stock going to supermarkets, schools or foodbanks
But the coronavirus pandemic has forced organisers to come up with an alternative for the huge crop especially grown by supplier Hugh Lowe Farms in Mereworth, Kent.
This year, 750kg will be turned into jam by England Preserves. The rest will be sold at supermarkets and grocers, sent to schools or given to food banks.
A spokesman for Wimbledon said unsold fruit is historically made into the preserve but ‘this year we are specifically ordering strawberries to make jam’.