Driscoll's New Strawberries Are A Taste Of The Tropics

Move over, regular strawberries! There's a new kid in town, and this pale strawberry's taste has an uncanny resemblance to tropical punch. You heard that right; there's no longer just one strawberry flavor profile. With the release of the new Tropical Bliss strawberries, berry company Driscoll's has upped the ante on taste diversity when it comes to the fan-favorite fruit. Choosing the best strawberries may have just gotten easier!

According to a press release from Driscoll's, this isn't the company's first foray into such unique tasting, premium-grown strawberries, as the Tropical Bliss strawberries will join their predecessors on the shelves of grocery stores this summer. These include Sweetest Batch strawberries, ruby-red berries engineered to taste like candy and fruit punch, and Rosé Strawberries, a lighter pink berry that tastes like peach and pink lemonade. The press release notes that the new Tropical Bliss berries are white and yellow in color — don't let that fool you into thinking they're not ripe — and have "light flavor notes of tropical punch, pineapple, and passionfruit."

Driscoll's strawberry experts, including Phil Stewart, its global director of strawberry breeding, and Kat Phetxumphou, a sensory scientist, have their own interpretations of the taste profile. "There's some mango and guava flavors — but to me, it's the pineapple flavor that really stands out," Stewart said, while Phetxumphou added, "The flavor is like a refreshing tropical punch on a nice hot day..." (via Driscoll's website).

Driscoll's notes on its website that the latest addition to the company's specialty strawberry collection, the new Tropical Bliss strawberries, has been in the works for quite some time now. We're talking decades. Not only that, it's taken a group of 13 staff members whom Kat Phetxumphou calls "berry sommeliers" to develop the flavor profile and overcome obstacles including short shelf life, disease susceptibility, and unattractive-forming berries. These berry pros even came up with a Driscoll's Strawberry Sensory Wheel to help classify and teach the public about different flavors (via PR Newswire).

Phetxumphou wants to be sure that consumers don't turn away from the Tropical Bliss strawberries because they don't have the rich, vibrant color they may be used to, stating that they shouldn't, therefore, assume that these berries lack flavor, as the truth is "quite the opposite" (via Driscoll's website).

Have we berry much got your attention now? Good! Because you'll have to hurry to select grocery stores to scoop up a batch of Tropical Bliss berries this spring and summer, as supplies will be limited. Look for them at Whole Foods, Ralph's, Lunds & Byerlys, and Dorothy Lane Markets (via Driscoll's website).