Everyone knows about red strawberries for their sweet taste, aroma, soft texture, and brilliant red color. Not everyone is familiar with the more rare white variety of strawberries. Although smaller than their more popular red counterparts, white strawberries are just as delicious, flavorful, aromatic and nutritious.

So why are these strawberries white? The life cycle of a strawberry starts with flowers turning into small green strawberries, as they mature, these green strawberries increase in size and turn white. For white strawberries, they remain white until they fully ripen, while red strawberries contain a ripening protein called Fra a1 that causes the strawberries to turn red when fully ripe.

Because white strawberries lack this protein, most people with strawberry allergies because of Fragaria allergen A1 (Fra a1), can safely consume white strawberries without triggering the allergies.

There are several varieties of white strawberries including the more popular white alpine strawberries, white coastal strawberries, and white pineberries.

Although true species of White strawberries have been around for years in Europe and Japan, they are recently being cultivated extensively in Japan for commercial purposes. These white strawberries can be expensive because of their rarity; thus, they are typically used as gifts for special occasions. They are usually available from winter season to spring.