Is this a lot of money? It depends on what you're going to do with them: eating, paired with wine or desserts, making preserves, etc. Gone are the days when strawberries could be found at the grocery store for $0.99/lb. And, both farms and grocery stores don't really fall into any standard of weights and measures when it comes to selling to consumers. Some do it by visual cues, selling by the pint (visual volume not by weight) and others sell by the weight. Personally, I'd rather buy my produce by the pound than its visual volume (as is the case with rhubarb stalks, where you have to estimate how much usable rhubarb you'll have after trimming the ends of the stalks).
Last weekend at my local farmers market, I picked up a "half flat" (visual volume) of fresh strawberries which were smaller than what you'd find at a grocery store, but looked really red (an indication of ripeness and sweetness). Of the three or four booths that were selling strawberries in "half flat", I went with the cheapest booth at $10/half flat. When I got home and weighed what I bought, it came out to be 2 lbs 12 oz or roughly $3.63/lb.
Fresh rhubarb stalks at the farmers market also has a wide range of pricing, typically $2.50 to $4.00 per pound. The stalks are redder, thicker and healthier than what can be found at the local produce market. But, is it really worth double the price?
