White Strawberry One of Two New Varieties From UF/IFAS

A WHITE STRAWBERRY? Not red? Yes, you read that right. And it smells a little like a pineapple. It’s also novel in that it’s the first white strawberry to go to market in the United States.

- BRAD BUCK

Just in time for the west-central Florida strawberry harvesting season, which runs from now until the end of March, UF/IFAS is releasing not one, but two new varieties – and the white strawberry is one of them. The other: another cultivar that UF/IFAS’ primary breeder says tastes oh-so-good.

Neither variety has a name yet. They’re known by numbers, which is typical early in the cultivar release process. So far, they’re known as ‘FL 16.78109’ (the white strawberry) and ‘FL 16.30-128’ (the red strawberry), said Vance Whitaker, a UF/IFAS associate professor of horticultural sciences and a strawberry breeder.

“Because the white strawberry is being test-marketed this year, there has been a lot of interest in it,” says Whitaker, a faculty member at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center. In fact, a grower told Whitaker that some chefs like the new fruit.

When it’s ripe and ready to eat, it is white inside and out, with a slight pink blush on the skin and red seeds, he said.