What Is That?! Strange Green Strawberries Arrive in Yekaterinburg
The green strawberry trend is gaining popularity through social media.
An unusual sweet has arrived in Yekaterinburg — a huge green strawberry called limeberry. It is unnaturally large, bright in color, and has a crunchy filling. The novelty has caused a huge stir online. Bloggers from Russia and Kazakhstan are making reviews about it, saying it«s the best thing they»ve ever tried. The sweet looks impressive and crunches loudly, but we didn«t take their word for it and decided to test it ourselves.
The product«s ingredient list includes raspberries despite being sold as strawberries.
What is limeberry
The taste test revealed the chocolate-covered strawberries were overly sweet.
In fact, it«s ordinary freeze-dried strawberries (dried at low temperatures) covered with a thick layer of chocolate glaze, and the »lime« in the name comes from added flavoring and external resemblance to a lime.
The limeberry produces a loud crunching sound when bitten into.
Limeberry hasn«t been seen in food markets yet. The strawberries started being sold in stores that sell sweets from around the world, as well as on marketplaces. This sweet isn»t cheap: for 9–10 berries you«ll have to shell out 600–800 rubles (approximately $6–$8 at current rates).
The pack we ordered had a long list of ingredients. Apart from the chocolate glaze, the seller promised freeze-dried raspberries and a «Yogurt» flavoring, but not a word about lime. In 100 grams of such strawberries there are as many as 480 kilocalories, which is about 120 kcal per berry — roughly the same as in two medium apples.
In taste, limeberry resembles strawberry chocolate, very milky and extremely sweet. There«s clearly more glaze than berry. Inside, there»s a crunchy strawberry with a pronounced sour note. It crunches so loudly that everyone around can hear it, and it even squeaks on your teeth. If you don«t like sweets and such special effects, this dessert will greatly disappoint you.
How lime strawberry became a trend
Videos about limeberry on social media appeared after unboxings of Dubai chocolate and tastings of the giant «Shine Muscat» grapes. Obviously, this is a new marketing trick.
«Trends are always born simply: we take something conservative and change the form. Or we break the rules of presentation by changing the familiar taste. This causes a surge of interest among the young hedonistic audience. And everyone else who tries to be on trend follows them,» explains marketer and Ural Federal University (UrFU) teacher Tamara Pospelova.
A trend must have bright packaging or an unusual form. A standout appearance is the main driver of sales. But the life cycle of a trend, according to the marketer, is very short — only three to six months. If the product doesn«t meet the basic needs of consumers or doesn»t match their expectations (for example, the food turns out to be tasteless), interest in such a product quickly fades.
In the «Food» section on E1.RU we regularly review new products. We«ve tried both »Shine Muscat« and Dubai chocolate. In the city»s stores we«ve also noticed strange mandarins that are grown in bags.
