A lot of people in Japan say, if you want strawberries, you should head to Tochigi. To be honest, there is some truth to that. I have had strawberries in Tochigi and they are incredible . But Ibaraki has some tasty strawberries as well. There are lots of places around Ibaraki to get your strawberries and to go strawberry picking. Tsukuba has some places, and so does Ishioka. One place in Joso city feels like a strawberry picking Disneyland. That place is Granberry Daichi.
Granberry Daichi
Granberry Daichi is a huge strawberry farm located in the Misakashindenmachi area of Joso city. There is really nothing around the area except the farm, but there seems to be construction for something big going on near the farm. I think it might be a new mall or something.
The Ibaraki Eats Duo went to Granberry last Tuesday during the Japanese Spring Equinox holiday. We had two objectives that day: go strawberry picking and have a strawberry parfait after the picking. We first headed to the office area to buy our tickets for the strawberry picking. It is 2,200yen for 40 minutes of all you can pick and eat strawberries. We bought our tickets and were ushered into a separate room.
Instructions
Remember how I said this place feels like a strawberry picking Disneyland? You know how before you get on a ride in Disneyland, there is a room with a TV that has a safety explanation video? Granberry has the same thing. The video is all in Japanese but there are subtitles in English. Basically, the video explains the rules, how to pick the strawberries, and what to do after your picking time is up. Once the video is over you can head to your strawberry picking greenhouse.
Huge Strawberry Greenhouses
The greenhouses are huge! I had never seen a strawberry greenhouse that was the size of a small mansion. The greenhouses are all alphabetically labeled. Your wrist band, that you receive when you buy your ticket, tells you what greenhouse to go to. Ours was C.
Strawberries in the Sky
We waited outside a few minutes and then we're let in. When you walk inside the greenhouse, it is quite a sight to see. All the strawberries are hanging above everyone's head. I wondered how the kids in the greenhouse would be able to pick anything. My wife then explained that five minutes before our start time, the staff lower the strawberries to ground level. You are given a small plastic tray for your strawberry picking. One part of the tray is for condensed milk. A pack of condensed milk at the farm is 50 yen or you can bring your own. The other part is for the stems.
Let's Get to Picking
The strawberries are lowered, your condensed milk is ready, you find the strawberry lane that looks delicious, and then it's go time. I should mention that not all the strawberries are the same flavor. There are four different types of strawberries in the greenhouse.
Tochiotome, high in sugar but a bit smaller than the rest.
Amaotome, huge strawberries, sweet but a bit of sourness to it.
Yayoihime, big and beautiful looking, but not that soft.
Akihime, a lot of juices flow out when you bite into it.
We tried all the different strawberries. My wife and I both agreed that we like Amaotome the best. It was delicious and went very well with our condensed milk. 5 minutes before our time was up, my wife and I gave up. We counted our total and I had about close to 70 strawberries. My wife had around 60.
Cafe Menu
After we finished our strawberry picking we headed to the cafe. The cafe has two floors for your strawberry parfait enjoying pleasure. I highly recommend checking out the open air second floor. The first floor sells strawberry goods, souvenirs, tomatoes and mini tomatoes, strawberry cakes, and other goodies to take home.
The cafe has parfaits that come in small, big, or a size for 2 or 3 people. You can also buy strawberry drinks like strawberry tea, or a strawberry latte.
I know I said that one of our objectives was to have the parfait at the cafe, but if you scroll up, I did write that I had close to 70 strawberries. There was no way I was going to have the parfait, not even a small one. I was beyond full. My wife was also done for the rest of that morning. Not to worry, we did buy some strawberry sweets to take home.
Strawberry Tart
We bought two strawberry sweets. First, was the strawberry tart. It was a really small tart but delicious. A chocolate tart with sliced strawberries and whipped cream. The tart was OK, but the sliced strawberries with whipped cream were heavenly.
Strawberry Pudding
This is the other treat we bought, the strawberry pudding. It is a nice size for a small snack or small dessert after a meal. The white pudding part is OK but the strawberry jam is the main star of the show. It tasted very fresh and delicious. Not a bad little dessert.
My wife and I had a great time at Granberry Daichi. It really did feel like the Disneyland of strawberry picking. We hope that we can go back sometime this spring and try the farm's amazing looking parfait.
Strawberry picking season is almost over, so come on down to Granberry Daichi. If you come in April, the ticket price is 200 yen cheaper but there are less strawberries. Don't forget to try some of the cafe's strawberry sweets. I hope you can enjoy this great strawberry picking experience. Who knows, you might see me there, finally having enough room in my stomach to try the parfait.
Enjoy!
For more information on Granberry Daichi, check out their website:
Update
Strawberry Parfait
Hey everyone! I wanted to give you an update on Granberry Daichi. The Ibaraki Eats Duo went back to this strawberry picking heaven a week ago. We didn't pick strawberries though. Instead, we went for the cafe's desserts.
The first dessert we tried was the strawberry parfait. If you scroll up, you can see that I wrote about how there are three different sizes of parfaits at Granberry. This is the smallest size. It's a good size for one person, but that day my wife and I decided to share. The parfait was very tasty. The strawberries were fresh and delicious, as expected, and the whip cream was excellent. But I think the best part was the strawberry jam at the bottom. That jam was incredibly fresh. It felt like Granberry made that jam just for me when I ate a spoonful of it. I would love to have that jam again, or possibly take a gallon of it home.
Strawberry Mousse
The next dessert, which we bought and took home, was the strawberry mousse. My wife loved the mousse. It was very creamy, like any mousse should be, and it had small pieces of delicious cake at the bottom. Which I found weird because usually mousse doesn't have that, but I welcomed the surprise.
Strawberry Soft Serve
When you visit Granberry, you maybe overwhelmed by all the sweets and desserts you can try. If you are not sure what to order, let me give you this one piece of advice. Go for the strawberry soft serve ice cream. Even if it's a cold day, go for the strawberry soft serve ice cream. This soft serve is most likely one of the best strawberry flavored soft serve ice creams I have ever had. It was extremely creamy and it felt like I was having the nectar of the strawberry ice cream gods. You can get this soft serve with or without the extra strawberry sticking out of it. I would go for the extra strawberry. Bite into that strawberry with the added soft serve, and everything you knew about strawberry flavored soft serve ice cream will change. I highly recommend trying this tasty treat when you visit Granberry Daichi.
Strawberry picking will end in late May, so don't miss your chance at a fun and delicious activity.
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