‘Rainier’, a Dual Purpose Strawberry Cultivar for the Pacific Northwest

Abstract

'Rainier', a strawberry cultivar introduced by Washington State University, has attributes that suit it to traditional preserve manufacture and frozen pack as well as fresh market. In the Pacific Northwest, processing is still the major outlet for strawberries. However, with the importation of inexpensive fruit for processing, many growers are seriously considering the more lucrative fresh fruit markets. The 'Northwest' cultivar, the mainstay of the processing industry for two decades, is too soft and does not have sufficient shelf life for use on the fresh market. 'Rainier' is a cultivar capable of meeting the demands of fresh fruit marketing as well as making an excellent processed product.