Presented by Driscoll’s
In 1904, brothers-in-law Joseph “Ed” Reiter and Richard “Dick” Driscoll first planted a commercial field of Sweetbriar variety strawberries on the Cassin Ranch in Watsonville, California. Those first berries were the beginning of a long journey from field to your table.
On August 13th, 1921 Ed Reiter was in Chicago awaiting the first train car shipment of berries. Unfortunately, upon sliding open the doors, he was dismayed to discover the berries had not weathered the journey well. However, two critical realizations came from the cross-continental shipment. First, the berries had to be cooled before shipping and secondly, only the most select fruit could be packed and sent long distances. Those lessons would open up a world of possibilities for sharing Driscoll’s berries with the world.
It was inside a Safeway grocery store in Seattle in 1982 that the little yellow basket first appeared. Those adorable containers would weave their way into the fabric of Americana. The sunshine color outsold an in-store test against the original green colored baskets carrying the exact same berries 2:1. Those yellow baskets spread to other grocery stores across the country and have since been the signature of Driscoll’s.
However, the berries continued their trip from those first California grown strawberries to a worldwide phenomenon. Some time between Hammer-pants and Grunge, Driscoll’s went global in the ‘90’s as production expanded into other countries to grow higher quality berries year round. In 2012, Driscoll’s expanded into China, carrying berry-growing operations to six continents.
It’s been a wild ride for those sweet little berries and that heritage can be found in every sun kissed bite.
https://www.driscolls.com/about/heritage
The post is presented by Driscoll’s 
