Tiptree celebrates 140 years of jam making with strawberry race
4th July 2025
Good weather and careful irrigation ensured a great crop of Little Scarlet strawberries this year and an opportunity for a record pick during the Tiptree Strawberry Race.
This was achieved by Mr Marian Tiuga from Romania with a haul of 8.4 kilos in one hour. He was closely followed by Mrs Uulzhan Dolotbekova from Kyrgyzstan, who gathered 8.3 kilos.
During the Tiptree Strawberry Race, farm workers and guest pickers, as well as teams from the factory and office, competed to win the fastest picker title.
This year the fastest winning team turned out to be ‘With Insight’ from Soft Fruit Direct, and the fastest home team was ‘Quick Hands’ from the jam factory.
A huge effort also went into creating some remarkable 40s-themed outfits to add a little glamour to the strawberry field.
Milestone events for Tiptree
June 2025 marks milestone events at Tiptree, as the company celebrates 140 years of jam making, 135 years of making Little Scarlet Strawberry Conserve and 21 years of organising the Tiptree Strawberry Race.
Chairman of Wilkin & Sons, Walter Scott, spoke about this unique event and wondered how long it would be before we would see a robotic picker trying to complete it. He added that it would take many years to get to Marian Tiuga’s speed.
After the weigh-in, the Little Scarlets were taken across the farm to the cold store and jam factory to be made into this season’s jam and replenish the empty shelves.
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