Science of Success: What It Takes to Make a Better Berry

WSJ’s The Future of Everything

Jul 26 2024 • 11 mins

What makes for a luxury strawberry? Is it the taste? Texture? Color? Around five years ago, berry company Driscoll’s released a new, premium line of berries with a higher price tag. Some consumers are shelling out almost 70% more to get their hands on this fancy fruit. But what are the qualities of a premium berry? On this Science of Success, we delve into the food science behind breeding and selling Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch, from creating more objective benchmarks for the highly subjective experience of taste to how the company works with supertasters and sensory analysts to create the best possible berry. What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com  Sign up for the WSJ's free The Future of Everything newsletter. Further reading: Why America’s Berries Have Never Tasted So Good  How Designer Fruit Is Taking Over the Grocery Store  Trying to Breed Better Fruit  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices