White Strawberries!!

I'm walking along the marketplace just outside exit #10 of Nippombashi station and I discover these incredible-smelling white strawberries! I had never seen or heard of them before, but apparently, they are not all that rare. Also known as "pineberries," the aroma itself is enough to stop you in your tracks. You can smell the sweetness from quite a distance away. They're a bit expensive, as you can see below. One pack was selling for 1,680-yen plus tax or two packs for 3,000-yen plus tax.

There was a sign that read that these white strawberries are only grown from two farms in Japan and the sweetness is three to five times more than that of a normal red strawberry! I was a bit weirded out by the color at first, since they look like they're sick, but I really wanted to taste them. So, I came home with one pack and readied them to eat asap.

My... dear.. gawdd..... First of all, when you open the door and enter a room with a bowl of these in your hand, the sweet, pineapple-like scent wafts right in and fills up the whole place. The texture on the outside is the same as a red strawberry, but when you bite into it you can tell that it's softer - almost like a cantaloupe. The taste is fantastic! It's like a mix of strawberry and pineapple without any hint of tartness. I crave for more, but we can't really afford to indulge in these special fruits every week, unless we allocated all of our budget to go toward a white strawberry diet. Hmmm...

One thing I did notice about Japan is its love for rare and special fruits. I once saw a pair of mangoes selling for almost 10,000-yen in a grocery store. I also read an article about the highest selling black watermelon that went for over $6,100 and "Yubari" cantaloupes that sold for $23,500! 

The Japanese sure do love their fruits. Fruits in general cost a lot more in Japan than anywhere else I've been. But if you do your research and explore a bit, it's not too difficult to find marketplaces where fruits and vegetable prices vary and you can score a good deal

For example, our closest chain grocery store sells a bag of around seven mikans (Japanese mandarin oranges or tangerines) for roughly 400 ~ 500-yen. However, if we walk a little further away, there is a big marketplace where boxes of mikans sell for just about 300-yen! There is absolutely no sacrifice in flavor, either. I have found that all fruits in Japan are sweet and delicious!

So if you find an expensive luxury fruit somewhere and you really want to give it a try, I'm certain you won't be disappointed, but I'd recommend that you take a look around for better deals first.