They’re not unripe strawberries. They’re not albino strawberries. They’re not strawberries that just saw a ghost. They’re pineberries: the colorless strawberry with a taste reminiscent of pineapples.

Yesterday, Reddit user Crustyjaj brought this strange fruit to the attention of the Today I Learned (TIL) community—adding, “TIL that there is a fruit that is a strawberry that tastes just like a pineapple. The name of that fruit is ‘Pineberry.'”

The pineberry may look like an extraterrestrial delicacy, but its origins seem to be quite earthly. According to NPR‘s Sasa Woodruff:

“The pineberry first appeared in the 1750s in Europe, as a cross between an American wild strawberry and a Chilean strawberry … Then, in 2003, Dutch strawberry breeder Hans de Jongh stepped in and began to transform it into a stronger, more productive plant.”

De Jongh has been busy patenting pineberries ever since. As consumer interest in designer fruits grows (giving rise to ungodly creations like cotton candy-flavored grapes), pineberries have become a perennial novelty.

Though initially reported as a British food fad back in 2010, this berry has since gone international.

“A taste of something different”: limited-edition pineberries from British supermarket Waitrose. (Waitrose)

In the spring of 2012, Japan Today reported that white strawberries were a trending fruit, making them “a very popular gift items at weddings, birthdays and births.” (But if you want to try one, be warned: They can run up to 500 yen—or $4 USD—for a single berry.)

In Thailand, the white strawberry even found its way into popular beauty products:

Fun fact: The fruits of most regular strawberry plants begin with white flesh and redden as they ripen. Pineberries, however, remain white even after ripening because they lack Fragaria allergen 1, a ripening protein responsible for the color change.

Pineberries are one of many varieties of white strawberries—some of which occur naturally, while others are the result of careful cross-breeding (and still others, like “White Soul” and “White Delight” seem to exist solely for the purpose of having funny names).

So what sets pineberries apart from plain old white strawberries? Supposedly, it’s their distinct, pineapple-y taste:

But of course, not everyone agrees that pineberries live up to the hype:

If you’re in the US and you’d like to try pineberries for yourself, you can order seeds from Nourse Farms, Burpee, Amazon, and maybe even a local farm near you.

What’s that? Your local farm is sold out of pineberry seeds? Well, you can always ask if they have any “strasberries.”

Reddit user _PuckTheCat_ describes it as “a strawberry that tastes a little like a raspberry, and is absolutely delicious.” (Photo: Schreibkraft/Wikimedia Commons)