White “Pineberry” and Red “Koyo” Strawberries 白いイチゴと昂揚イチゴ

We have noticed that some of the gourmet food sites are now carrying Japanese white strawberries which are extremely expensive. (For example, at one site, a tray of 8 strawberries was $135. At another, 400 gm were on sale for $98.99). This was certainly not the strawberry scene when I was growing up in Japan. For one thing edible white strawberries did not exist; if they were white they were not ready to eat because they were not ripe. Also peak strawberry season was in the summer. Now, the best strawberry season is in the winter.  (This is because all the strawberries are grown in high tech labor intensive green houses). Nonetheless even the red strawberries (ichigo イチゴ) we ate in Japan on our various trips, there were not the same “animal” they are here. They were extremely flavorful and very sweet. Not even the most sweet strawberries we’ve ever eaten here hold a candle to the ones we got on recent trips to Japan.* We are not as familiar with the white Japanese strawberries as we are with the red and therefore considered ordering the Japanese white strawberry but the price is astronomical and we decided even as good as we knew they would be it was not worth it.

*digression alert. The most sweet strawberries we ever ate here came from a field in California near the condominium we were renting at the time. During harvest time they were being sold right out of field at a small fruit stand. They were ripe to perfection and warm having been kissed by the sun in the field. Nonetheless they were very acidic compared to the ones we have had in Japan.

The other day, however, when we went to Whole Foods, my wife found “white” strawberries called “Berry de blanc” and small red strawberries called “Oiishii” meaning “delicious” in Japanese which appears to suggest its Japanese connection (picture #1). The label also listed the red strawberry as “Koyo berry”. Although we were not sure what they were, they sure looked like the Japanese varieties we had just been looking at on the web so we bought them since they were not too expensive.

We first opened the white strawberries (picture #2). They were a good size, pale white with red seeds and looked exactly like the Japanese white strawberries.

The “Oishii” strawberries (picture #3)  were small but bright red and carefully packaged in a plastic case with an individual recess for each berry.

We also bought some green grapes called “Cotton candy” grapes (these were from Peru). We bought these one time before and liked them. So we had the two kinds of strawberries and the grapes (picture #4) as a desert for our lunch.

The white strawberry was sweet but not as sweet as the “Oishii” strawberry and it had a different (not-strawberry) flavor. Later we learned this variety of white strawberry is called “pineberry” because it has a slight pineapple flavor. We were not sure that we could recognize the different flavor as pineapple but it was definitely different. The “oishii” strawberry was very sweet and tasted like a strawberry. Both are much better than regular strawberries available in the supermarket. The cut surfaces (picture #5) are interesting; the white strawberry is white all the way through and the “Oiishii” strawberry is completely red. Many American strawberries are red on the surface but the center is pale/white (not fully ripe?).

The white strawberry (pineberry) we got is grown in Florida and “Oishii” strawberry is grown in New Jersey using Japanese vertical cultivation techniques. Do we buy these strawberries again? The answer is “probably”. It is a bit more expensive but not outrageous (like the ones from Japan) and taste better than regular strawberries.

Digression alert: We were curious about how these white strawberries were developed, how they could be ripe but still white. We also wanted to know what was the difference between Western and Japanese white strawberries? The strawberry genetics appear complicated and beyond me but the mechanisms for the strawberry that is ripe but still white is due to the genetics, i.e., the lack of a protein called “Fragaria allergen A1” which prevents the berries from producing “anthocyanin” which gives it the red color. There appear to be many white strawberry varieties including wild ones. The version of white strawberry we got is called “pineberry” which is a cross between North and South American strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa and Fragaria chiloensis) which was reportedly introduced to the U.K. market in 2020.

The Japanese white strawberries are apparently different (genetically and flavor-wise??). The first Japanese white strawberry varietal was reportedly registered in 2009. Since we have not had a chance to taste many different varieties of Japanese white strawberries (it appears they come up with new varieties often), we do not know how the flavors differ.