A Portadown man has introduced a new brand of strawberry to the Irish market.

He is Mr Pat Mackle of Derrinraw, Birches, and he discovered the strawberry – ‘Hummi Grundi’ – in England where he has spent the past 15 years.

Mr Mackle was originally an electrician but turned to market gardening two years ago when he discovered the new strawberries. He returned to his native Ulster just over a year ago.

Hummi Grundi were developed in Germany and Mr Mackle bought his batch of the berries from the famous English grower Ken Muir.

The strawberries are easily the biggest on the Irish market, and grow to the size of small tomatoes.

They are a very early cropper and are a vigorous grower in any type of soil.

And the flavour makes them a serious rival to the famous ‘Royal Sovereign’, which has been the ‘Queen’ of the Irish crop for many years.