Yixing's pineberry wins gold medal in national competition

Taoxun, a type of pineberry produced in Yixing, East China's Jiangsu province, won the national gold medal in Shandong province.

Pineberry is a white strawberry cultivar with a pineapple-like flavor, white coloring, and red seeds. It was dubbed "pineberry" for the UK market, where it became available in 2010, to reflect its pineapple flavor and strawberry appearance.

Pineberries are available in the spring and summer, and are smaller than common strawberries. When ripe, it is almost completely white with red seeds. The plant is disease resistant, but also expensive and not very profitable due to small-scale farming, small berry size and low yield.

Pineberries produced in Yixing cost 120 yuan ($19) per kilogram for self-plucking.