Pineberries: Florida Welcomes A Berry Industry Game Changer

DUETTE, FL — It’s an exciting year for Florida berry farmers as they welcome a newcomer on the scene, the pineberry or white strawberry.

Typically found in Japan and other Asian countries, the University of Florida’s Gulf Coast Research and Education Center began exploring how they could bring the unique strawberry to the Sunshine State in 2012, said Dr. Vance Whitaker, an associate professor at UF’s GCREC and a strawberry breeder through UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension program.

While some smaller growers found ways to produce pineberries in the U.S. in the past, it wasn’t done at the scale Florida is doing now, nor was it the same product, he said. “They could be found in some other areas, but they were very mild, very tiny, the size of your thumbnail. It’s just not something that has been grown and put into a supermarket here.”

For years, UF cultivated the pineberry, cross breeding seeds from the Japanese plant with the strawberries typically found in Florida to ensure it could grow in this climate, Whitaker said.

G&D Farms, a subsidiary of Wish Farms, offered space at its Duette farm in Manatee County as part of UF’s pilot program.

“We had half a row, maybe a hundred plants,” Chris Parks, farm manager said.

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Whitaker didn’t expect the berries to be ready for commercialization so quickly, but it wasn’t long before UF got the call from G&D that pineberries were “ready to go” and they started the commercialization of the fruit, he said.

From those first hundred plants, now more than 25 Central Florida farms are growing pineberries on 12 acres this growing season, he said. Next year, between 100 and 200 acres will be dedicated to it.

“There should be enough to make it much more widely available,” Whitaker said.

G&D and Wish were “aggressive” in pursuing the pineberry project, he added. “They were already in the mindset that they wanted to get a white strawberry. Others were testing it for the first time, seeing where it fit in with their business. Wish was ready.”

Wish dedicated 6.6 acres at G&D’s 625-acre farm to the pineberry this year, said Nick Wishnatzki, public relations manager for Wish Farms. The company also operates a more than 1,200-acre farm in Plant City, which it uses to grow and market berries for other brands.

The addition of pineberries for the company, he added. “Wish Farms has always been kind of looking for that next big thing out there that’s innovative and fun and fits our brand.”

The result is the company’s Pink-a-Boo pineberries, a nod to how berry lovers can tell if the fruit is ripe.

“When they’re ripe, there’s a little pink hue to them,” Wishnatzki said. “They turn a little blush and that’s why we call them Pink-a-Boo.”

There’s even a photo on the label to help shoppers determine the fruit’s ripeness.

As for the taste of this unique berry, everyone has their own experience, Wishnatzki said. “Everyone kind of gets something different from it.”

Personally, he experienced the typical strawberry taste and texture initially, he said. “Then, when I bit into it, I taste more flavors. You start to get notes of pineapple and a little bit of peach and citrus. It’s a lot of combinations of flavors. It’s really cool and interesting.”

Whitaker said, “It’s just different. There’s sweetness and a little bit less of a tang. Just the flavor and the aroma is different. There’s a pineapple hint. You just have to try it. Everybody has their own way to describe it.”

But not everyone will be able to taste the pineberry this year, he added.

Wish Farms will have the white strawberries in select Aldi’s and other growers will sell them through other grocers, including Whole Foods, Whitaker said. “But they’re going to be really hard to find this year. They’re going to be easier to find next year. So, next year, keep your eyes out for pineberries. Florida is where it’s starting and I think it’s going to expand.”

He added, “Right now, Florida is driving it, which is exciting.”