Have you noticed a bit more white on your strawberries lately? The technical term is “white shoulders” and it should be pretty noticeable because there are standards in place to prohibit an excessive amount of whiteness on strawberries.
What to Expect from a Normal Strawberry?
When purchasing traditional strawberries, you should be selecting from containers of berries that are close to full pink or red. You should not see a lot of white and if you do, you should pick a different container.
Strawberry skin color is directly correlated to the ripeness of the berry, and since strawberries do not continue ripening after harvest, you want to make sure and buy ripe berries! Your best bet is to pick strawberries that are full red/pink if that option is available to you.
To learn more about how to select and store your favorite produce items, you can download the free tables below!
What Causes White Shoulders in Strawberries?
White shoulders in strawberries are caused by temperature fluctuations during the growing season. Either excessively cold or hot temperatures can play a role. These temperature changes prohibit the strawberries from being able to ripen properly. When strawberries ripen, they ripen from the tip up to the stem, so the white shoulders are an indicator of that.
To give you an example of a recent clamshell that I bought (at the time of writing this, it’s the end of February 2021), the strawberries were huge and there were a lot of white shoulders. On some of the strawberries, it was close to 50% of the berry, which was particularly attention grabbing. These strawberries were grown in Oxnard, California and I even called the company to confirm that it was due to the weather. The temperature has been low in Oxnard lately and the berries were extra large because they had left them on the plant longer to try to get them to color up, but the berries had other plans!
How do the White Shoulders Affect the Strawberry Flavor?
Per the UC Davis Postharvest Center Produce Sheets, strawberries should be harvested with a minimum of:
- U.S. Requirement: At least 1/2 – 3/4 of the berry surface should be pink or red in color
- California Requirement: At least 2/3 of the berry surface should be pink or red in color
To put it simply, less red/pink color equals less flavor. However, although they are not full color, there are other requirements that are followed, such as taking a sample of the SSC (soluble solids content) and TA (titratable acidity), so they are still good, just not as good as they could have been!
If you have questions related to the specific strawberries that you bought, I encourage you to:
- Read the information on the container related to where the berries were grown.
- Reach out to the company directly!
If you enjoyed this post,
The things you learn! 🙂
I find out interesting information form your emails. Thank you
Fantastic, I’m so glad!
Interesting, I always thought the white area was a result of not receiving sunlight exposure. Thanks for the info.