Strawberries galore

People streamed into Mġarr for its strawberry festival yesterday, grabbing 12 tons of the succulent fruit the locality is known for by the time the event was over.

The sunny weather played a part in the number of people who attended Frawli Fest, increasing the demand for the strawberries by about three tonnes over last year.

As families traipsed out of Mġarr carrying their strawberry boxes in brown paper bags, farmers were busy picking away, braving the sun to keep up with the sales and bring a continuous supply to the stalls. By midday, they had already gone through 7,000 kilos.

The luscious strawberries, which made their way into a vast variety of food and drinks, including jams, sorbets and smoothies, seemed to be a rare commodity from the way people were queuing up to buy them and stuff their faces with anything that had that red tinge – and a dash of cream.

Even ravioli, soup and imqaret were made with the fresh spring berries but people could also opt for the souvenir and jewellery versions of the fruit.

The cherry on the cake, however, was the usual Maypole strawberry gateau, sponsored by Ta’ Soldi restaurant, which measured about 1.2 metres by 5.5 metres.