How to enjoy premium Japanese strawberries year-round with Oishii, now available in the GTA

Most of us think we know strawberries. They’re usually sweet enough, juicy when you’re lucky, and occasionally fragrant—but often forgettable as a fleeting summer pleasure that can feel disappointing during the remainder of the year.

The Koyo Berry is here to challenge all of that.

Now launching in the GTA, Oishii’s Koyo Berry invites you to rethink what a strawberry can be. Grown indoors in ultra-lush smart farms—where every single day is an ideal growing day, and environmentally responsible practices are built into every step—this strawberry delivers a restaurant-quality experience at home, 365 days a year. The Koyo Berry is now available in Ontario at Fortino’s, with additional fine retailers to follow.

These aren’t standard grocery store strawberries—or even something you’re likely to stumble across at a peak-season farmers’ market. Oishii Berries are Japanese varietals, which are naturally sweeter and more aromatic than most strawberries available in Ontario’s market. They’re always picked at peak ripeness, with consistent flavour and texture, no matter the season.

You don’t even need to open the container to smell the difference.

A strawberry worth paying attention to

The first thing you notice about the Koyo Berry isn’t even the taste. It’s the aroma. Lift the lid—or simply hover over it—and you’re met with a bright, unmistakable strawberry fragrance that’s fresh, floral and nostalgic. For those in the know, it’s like taking a trip to Tokyo for its famed strawberry season without needing to buy a plane ticket.

Then comes the texture. Slightly firm at first bite, it quickly gives way to a structured softness. This is never a watery or mealy berry. Each one is bright red, juicy and deeply satisfying.

Flavour-wise, the Koyo Berry has a refreshing sweetness that feels clean rather than cloying, balanced with a lively brightness that wakes up the palate. It tastes like the very first bite of a truly excellent summer strawberry—except that unlike the latter, it’s available whenever the craving hits.

Inspired by Japanese premium fruit culture

In Japan, fruit is an expression of care and respect for the person enjoying it. Premium fruit culture treats strawberries, melons and peaches as objects of pride and celebration. They’re grown slowly and meticulously, given as gifts, shared with intention and appreciated for their beauty as much as their flavour.

The Koyo Berry is deeply rooted in that philosophy. It’s a strawberry meant to be savoured, not rushed, whether you serve them as dessert after dinner, an afternoon snack or on a cheese board as you’re celebrating with friends.

It also makes a perfect host gift for the food lovers in your life. Those who try these berries often remark that this is what they wish strawberries tasted like all the time.

Consistency is a big part of why Oishii strawberries have become favourites among top chefs—and why Toronto’s cooks, from home entertainers to some of the city’s top restaurants, are beginning to notice. The berries shine everywhere from simple applications (served fresh, with cream) to more creative uses like strawberry shortcake, tarts, salads and savoury pairings. Oishii’s website offers recipe inspiration for those ready to experiment, including berry gochujang sauce, gazpacho, cinnamon buns and even cocktails (premium strawberry martini, anyone?).

Growing the perfect strawberry every day of the year

Oishii grows its strawberries indoors, in advanced smart farms that remove the guesswork from agriculture. There’s no unpredictable weather, no compromise on ripeness and no seasonal drop-off in flavour—just precise control over every variable that matters.

At the heart of this system is Amatelas Farm, Oishii’s newest indoor strawberry farm, in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and the largest of its kind. Named after the mythical Japanese sun goddess, Amatelas Farm represents a new, more sustainable vision for premium fruit production.

Spanning more than 237,500 square feet and built inside a refurbished plastic bottle factory, the farm operates on a carefully calibrated balance of technology and biology. Hundreds of moving racks per farm unit—each stacked with eight growing levels—circulate on a 24-hour cycle. This design allows bees, robots and farmers to work together, maximizing plant health, efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Every strawberry is grown in pesticide-free conditions and is Non-GMO Project Verified, with each plant receiving exactly the light, water and nutrients it needs—no more, no less.

Technology that tastes better

Amatelas Farm is powered in part by a 50-acre solar field next door, helping reduce reliance on non-renewable energy. Inside, next-generation LED lighting uses 14 per cent less energy per plant compared to the previous generation of Oishii farms, while a state-of-the-art water purification system recycles the majority of the water used in production.

More than 50 robots work around the clock, monitoring ripeness and harvesting berries at their peak. The result is fruit that tastes exactly as it should—every time you open the package, any day of the year.

A founder’s obsession with better fruit

Oishii’s story started with a simple disappointment. When CEO and co-founder Hiroki Koga moved from Japan to the United States, he was let down by how strawberries—and fruit more broadly—were treated as commodities. The emphasis was on volume, shelf life and uniformity, often at the expense of flavour.

Having grown up with Japan’s premium fruit culture, where quality is non-negotiable, Koga set out to change that equation. He brought seeds from the Japanese Alps to New York and began experimenting with how technology could recreate ideal growing conditions indoors. The result was Oishii’s first breakthrough varietal—and the foundation for a company built around flavour, precision and reverence for fruit done right.

Why the Koyo Berry is worth it

The premium moniker only works when the product genuinely delivers. The Koyo Berry does.

It offers a level of flavour, aroma, and consistency typically reserved for fine-dining kitchens, with availability that doesn’t depend on the calendar. It reflects a Japanese fruit tradition and a farming approach that treats quality as the primary goal.

This is a strawberry for entertaining, gifting and lingering over—or for everyday cravings when an ordinary strawberry simply won’t do.

To learn more about Oishii’s arrival in Ontario, find a retailer near you and discover which Toronto restaurants are featuring Oishii berries, visit oishii.com/pages/toronto.

Looking for a Valentine’s treat? Oishii’s premium strawberries are available for a limited time at these Toronto restaurants and bakeries to help you celebrate love at its sweetest.

• Belle Isle – Oishii strawberry rice pudding, available February to March
• Andrea’s Cookies – Chocolate strawberry cookie, available February 11 to 15
• KWENTO – Tea cake set, available February 12 to 15
• MIKU – Strawberry shortcake, available February 13 and 14