Strawberry mania is back again in dead of winter

From left are strawberry sandwiches, strawberry pancakes from CU and a ricotta cheesecake topped with strawberries served at VIPS restaurants. [BGF RETAIL, CJ FOODVILLE]

The days are short, and the air is cold and thick with fine dust. It must be strawberry season again.

Restaurants and food companies annually start releasing strawberry-themed desserts ahead of the spring. This year, they’re at it again, but earlier than usual.

CJ Foodville’s VIPS franchise buffet restaurant released strawberry-themed desserts that include ricotta cheesecakes topped with strawberry cream, strawberries covered in a sweet jelly of red beans and chocolate cakes decorated with strawberries. The strawberry tree, a tree trunk stuck with sticks with strawberries, marshmallows and green grapes, is the seasonal highlight at VIPS.

VIPS annually releases strawberry-themed desserts, but it pushed the release date up by three weeks considering the popularity of the fruit and an earlier harvest.

“Strawberry is the most mentioned key word with VIPS on social media, after steak,” said a spokesperson for VIPS. “It is much anticipated and gets a lot of requests. We pushed the release date up.”

CJ Foodville’s Season’s Table is also holding a similar event. Its lineup includes cream-filled pancakes topped with strawberries and a peach pudding with strawberries on top.

It is aiming for students and parents celebrating graduations next month.

Neither franchise has set an end date for the event.

Krispy Kreme also jumped on the bandwagon, introducing four new strawberry-inspired doughnuts. Strawberry-flavored juice, tea and milk are also new releases at the doughnut place.

For those willing to eat shaved ice in winter, Sulbing brought back the icy dessert covered with strawberry pieces and cheesecake surrounded with strawberry pieces.

Convenience store chains are not missing the trend.

CU, operated by BGF Retail, released strawberries much larger than average strawberries. They are said to be rare because they take around 20 days longer to ripen. CU said its on-year strawberry sales in December jumped 137.1 percent, becoming the most popular fruit sold at stores.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]