The honest answer is: usually not very fresh.
Supermarkets and mass-market retailers need to produce chocolate covered strawberries in advance to manage stock and reduce waste. This typically means the strawberries are dipped 24 to 72 hours before they appear on the shelf — and they may then sit there for another day or two before purchase.
By the time you buy and eat them, the strawberry inside could be three to five days past the point it was at its best. The moisture released by the fruit during that time has softened the coating, the flavour of the chocolate has dulled, and the strawberry itself has lost much of its freshness.
This is the fundamental problem with treating chocolate covered strawberries as a shelf product. They are not designed for long storage — they are at their best within hours of being made.
At La Fraise, every single box is made fresh on the day it is delivered. Nothing is prepared in advance and stored overnight. The strawberries are dipped, finished, boxed, and dispatched on the same day — which is why the product you receive tastes as it should.
It is a more demanding way to operate, but it is the only way to deliver what we promise. If you have only tried store-bought chocolate covered strawberries, the difference when you try a La Fraise box fresh is immediately noticeable.