White colored fruits are white because something is missing, not because something was added. No fruit makes a white pigment. Flesh or skin looks white when it has no red, yellow, or green pigments and light scatters off the tiny air spaces between its cells.
That absence shows up in 2 ways. In most cases the white is inside, as in a coconut, a lychee, or a cherimoya, hidden under a rind of another color. In fewer cases the whole fruit is pale, as in a white eggplant, a white currant, or a pineberry.
White makes ripeness harder to judge, since there is no color change to watch. Hidden white fruit has to be judged by the rind, the weight, and the feel. White-skinned fruit often gives one useful warning, because many kinds turn yellow once they are past their best.
This list of 50 fruits starts with white flesh, moves to fruit that is white through and through, and ends with garden crops that are fruits in the botanical sense. It also includes 4 white berries that are not for eating, because they are common and easy to mistake. Growing regions and seasons refer to the United States unless noted.
1. Coconut
Coconut is the best-known white fruit, although the white part is the food supply of the seed and not fruit flesh. In a young green coconut that meat is thin and soft like jelly. In a mature brown one it is thick, firm, and rich in oil.
The husk color tells which stage is inside, since green means young and brown means mature. A good mature coconut feels heavy and sloshes when shaken. One with no sound has dried out.
2. Lychee
Lychee hides translucent white flesh inside a bumpy, pinkish-red shell. The flesh is juicy and floral, wrapped around a single glossy brown seed. South Florida grows most of the American crop.
The main season is June through July, and the fruit does not ripen after picking. The white flesh should look moist and pearly, not gray or brown. A shell that has turned dark and brittle means the fruit is old.
3. Longan
Longan is a close relative of lychee with a thin, tan, brittle shell. The flesh is translucent white around a shiny black seed, which gave the fruit its Chinese name, dragon eye. The taste is sweet and slightly musky.
The shell stays tan from start to finish, so color is no help. Ripe fruit feels firm but not hard and peels cleanly. It is harvested in South Florida and Hawaii in late summer.
4. Rambutan
Rambutan has a red shell covered in soft, hair-like spines and white flesh much like that of lychee. The flesh is slightly creamier and clings to the seed in some varieties. Hawaii grows a small domestic crop.
The white flesh is ready when the shell is bright red and the hairs are still firm. Blackened hairs signal age, even if the inside is still good. Like its relatives, it must ripen on the tree.
5. Mangosteen
Mangosteen has a thick, deep purple rind around 4 to 8 snow-white segments. The flesh is soft, juicy, and sweet-tart, with a flavor between peach and lychee. Fresh fruit has been allowed into the United States from Thailand since 2007.
The number of petal-like lobes on the bottom of the fruit matches the number of white segments inside. A good mangosteen has a rind that gives slightly when squeezed. A rock-hard rind means the fruit is old and the flesh has dried.
6. Soursop
Soursop is a large, green, spiny fruit that can weigh 10 pounds or more. The white pulp is juicy and fibrous, with a sharp, sweet flavor like strawberry and pineapple with citrus. It is used mostly for juice and ice cream.
Ripe fruit turns from dark green to yellowish-green and yields to pressure, and the soft spines spread apart. The shiny black seeds are toxic and must be removed. It grows in South Florida and Puerto Rico.
7. Cherimoya
Cherimoya is a heart-shaped green fruit with a pattern like overlapping thumbprints. The flesh is white, smooth, and custard-like, with a taste of banana, pineapple, and pear. It grows in the coastal hills of Southern California.
A ripe cherimoya gives like a ripe avocado, and its skin dulls and may brown slightly. California growers pollinate each flower by hand, which is one reason for the high price. The large black seeds are not edible.
8. Sugar Apple
Sugar apple is a round, knobby fruit made of pale green segments dusted with a white bloom. The flesh is creamy white, very sweet, and slightly grainy. Each segment holds one glossy black seed.
The fruit is ready when the gaps between the knobs turn cream or yellow and the segments begin to separate. A ripe one falls apart in the hand. It is grown in South Florida and ripens in summer and fall.
9. Atemoya
Atemoya is a cross of cherimoya and sugar apple, first made by a government horticulturist in Miami in 1908. It has bumpy, pale green skin and smooth white flesh. The flavor is often compared to a pina colada.
It combines the cold tolerance of one parent with the heat tolerance of the other. Ripe fruit yields to gentle pressure and may split slightly near the stem. Florida and Hawaii harvest it from August to November.
10. White Dragon Fruit
White dragon fruit has bright pink skin, green scales, and white flesh speckled with tiny black seeds. It is the mildest and least sweet of the dragon fruits. Most of what American stores sell is imported from Vietnam.
The flowers open for a single night and are pollinated by moths and bats. Ripe fruit has evenly colored skin and gives slightly under the thumb. The white flesh is scooped out and eaten chilled.
11. White Sapote
White sapote is a round, thin-skinned fruit with creamy white flesh the texture of custard. It tastes like a blend of banana, peach, and vanilla. Despite the name, it belongs to the citrus family and is unrelated to other sapotes.
The green skin turns slightly yellow and the fruit softens like an avocado when ripe. It bruises at the lightest touch, which keeps it out of supermarkets. California gardeners have grown it since the early 1800s.
12. White Guava
White guava has pale green to yellow skin and firm, white flesh. It is milder and less musky than the pink type. Many white varieties are eaten while still crisp, sliced like an apple and sprinkled with salt and chili.
For crisp eating, the fruit is picked when the skin lightens from dark to pale green. Left to turn yellow, it softens and grows sweeter and more fragrant. The hard seeds in the center are edible but often cut away.
13. Ice Cream Bean
Ice cream bean is a long, green pod, often 1 to 3 feet in length, from a tropical tree in the pea family. Inside, each black seed is wrapped in white pulp as soft as cotton candy. The pulp is sweet and tastes faintly of vanilla.
A ripe pod feels plump and gives slightly when squeezed. The pod is twisted open and the pulp is eaten straight off the seeds. The tree grows in Southern California, Florida, and Hawaii.
14. Cacao Pulp
Cacao pulp is the white, juicy layer that surrounds the beans inside a cacao pod. It is sweet and tart, with a taste like lychee and citrus, and nothing like chocolate. The pulp feeds the fermentation that gives cocoa beans their flavor.
Pods ripen to yellow, orange, or red, and a ripe one sounds hollow when tapped. The pulp was long discarded and is now sold as juice. Hawaii is the only state that grows cacao commercially.
15. Breadfruit
Breadfruit is a large, round, green fruit weighing 2 to 10 pounds, with white, starchy flesh. Cooked at the firm stage, it tastes like fresh bread or potato. It is a traditional staple in Hawaii, where it is called ulu.
A mature fruit shows smoother skin, a yellow-green tint, and dried beads of white sap on the surface. Left to soften, the flesh turns sweet and custard-like. The famous voyage of the Bounty in 1789 was a mission to carry breadfruit trees to the Caribbean.
16. Monstera Fruit
Monstera fruit comes from the familiar Swiss cheese houseplant, which fruits outdoors in South Florida, Hawaii, and Southern California. It looks like a green ear of corn covered in hexagonal scales. The creamy white flesh underneath tastes like pineapple and banana.
The fruit takes about a year to ripen, and the scales fall away from the base upward as it does. Only the sections where scales have loosened on their own are safe to eat. Unripe flesh contains needle-like crystals that burn the mouth and throat.
17. Noni
Noni is a lumpy fruit the size of a potato that turns from green to yellow to a translucent white when ripe. It is one of the few fruits that becomes white on the outside at maturity. The smell is strong and often compared to sharp cheese.
Polynesian voyagers brought it to Hawaii, where it is still grown for juice. The flavor is bitter and pungent, and few people eat it fresh. Fruit is picked at the pale stage and left to soften before pressing.
18. Santol
Santol is a round fruit from Southeast Asia with fuzzy, yellow-brown skin. Inside are several seeds, each wrapped in white, cottony pulp that is sweet and sour. The thick rind is also edible and is often candied or cooked.
Ripe fruit turns from green to golden and softens slightly. The pulp is sucked from the seeds, which must not be swallowed because they can block the intestine. It is occasionally grown in South Florida.
19. White Peach
White peach has creamy skin with a pink blush and pure white flesh, sometimes tinted red near the pit. It contains almost none of the carotenoids that color a yellow peach. It is also lower in acid, so it tastes sweeter.
The white flesh bruises and browns quickly, which makes these peaches fragile. A cream background with no trace of green shows ripeness. White-fleshed types are the standard peach across much of Asia.
20. White Nectarine
White nectarine is a smooth-skinned white peach, with rosy skin and very sweet white flesh. Low acid makes it taste sweet even when firm. California grows nearly all of the American crop.
The background color under the blush should be cream, not green. The flesh is delicate, so the fruit is best bought firm and ripened at home. It is in season from June through August.
21. White Apricot
White apricot has pale cream skin, sometimes with a faint blush, and cream-white flesh. It descends from varieties grown in Central Asia and Iran. The flavor is very sweet and juicy, with little of the tartness of an orange apricot.
The fruit turns from pale green to ivory when ripe and softens quickly. Its season lasts only 2 to 3 weeks in June. California growers sell it under a few brand names in specialty stores.
22. Snow Apple
Snow apple, also known as Fameuse, is an old variety grown in Quebec since the early 1700s. It is small and red-skinned, with tender flesh so white that it gave the apple its name. The flavor is sweet and aromatic, with a hint of strawberry.
The white flesh is sometimes streaked with red just under the skin. It is very cold-hardy and was once the main apple of Vermont and eastern Canada. It is thought to be a parent of McIntosh.
23. Cortland Apple
Cortland is a red apple with bright white flesh, developed at a Cornell University research station in New York in 1898. It is a cross of McIntosh and an older variety called Ben Davis. The taste is sweet with a mild tang.
Its white flesh is unusually slow to brown after cutting. That makes it the standard apple for fruit salads and cheese plates. It ripens in September and is grown mainly in New York and New England.
24. White Transparent Apple
White Transparent, also sold as Yellow Transparent, is an early apple brought to the United States from Russia in 1870. Its skin is so pale that it looks almost translucent. The flesh is white, soft, and tart.
This is one apple where skin color shows ripeness clearly, shifting from green to creamy white. It ripens in July, weeks ahead of most apples, and turns mealy within days. It is used almost entirely for applesauce.
25. Ya Pear
Ya pear is a Chinese variety with pale, yellow-white skin and pure white flesh. It has the shape of a European pear but the crisp, juicy crunch of an Asian pear. The flavor is mild, sweet, and lightly fragrant.
It ripens on the tree and is ready to eat when sold. The skin lightens from pale green to nearly white as it matures. It is found in Asian grocery stores from fall through winter.
26. Pineberry
Pineberry is a white strawberry with red seeds and a faint scent of pineapple. It lacks the pigment that colors ordinary strawberries. The berries are smaller and softer than red ones.
Ripeness is read from the seeds, which turn from green to red while the flesh stays white. Berries grown in full sun may take on a pink blush. They are sold in clear packs under several brand names.
27. White Alpine Strawberry
White alpine strawberry is a small woodland type with creamy white berries the size of a fingernail. Varieties include ‘White Soul’ and ‘Pineapple Crush’. The flavor is intense and aromatic.
Birds rarely touch the fruit, apparently because it never turns red. Gardeners judge ripeness by softness, fragrance, and seeds that have darkened. The plants make no runners and are grown from seed.
28. White Currant
White currant is a pigment-free form of the red currant, with translucent berries that show their seeds and veins. It is the sweetest of the currants and the least acidic. The berries hang in long strings.
Ripe fruit turns from greenish-white to a warm, pale gold. A famous French preserve was traditionally made from white currants with every seed removed by hand. Bushes grow 3 to 5 feet tall in cool northern climates.
29. White Mulberry
White mulberry is the fruit of a tree brought to America in colonial times to feed silkworms. Some trees bear berries that stay white or cream when ripe. The taste is honey-sweet, with almost no tartness.
Ripe berries turn slightly translucent and fall when the branch is shaken. Dried white mulberries are sold as a snack and taste somewhat like raisins. The tree now grows wild across much of the country.
30. White Blackberry
White blackberry is a creamy, translucent blackberry bred by the California plant breeder Luther Burbank in the 1890s. His improved variety, ‘Snowbank’, is still sold to collectors. The berries are sweet, soft, and low in acid.
The fruit never darkens, so it is picked when it turns from green to ivory and pulls away easily. It remains a novelty and is not grown commercially. Burbank created it by repeatedly selecting the palest seedlings from a light-colored wild berry.
31. Niagara Grape
Niagara is the leading white grape of the eastern states, bred in Niagara County, New York, in 1868. Like all so-called white grapes, it is really pale green to gold. It is the grape behind most white grape juice.
The berries turn from green to a pale yellow-gold with a white, waxy bloom when ripe. They also develop a strong, sweet, musky aroma. The skin slips easily off the pulp, as in its parent, Concord.
32. White Cranberry
White cranberry is not a separate variety but an ordinary cranberry harvested about 3 weeks early. At that stage the berries are ivory, sometimes with a faint pink blush. The flavor is milder and less tart than that of red cranberries.
The red pigment in cranberries forms only after cool fall nights arrive. Picking before that point gives white fruit, which is pressed into white cranberry juice. The berries are rarely sold fresh.
33. Creeping Snowberry
Creeping snowberry is a tiny, trailing evergreen of northern bogs and mossy conifer forests. It bears white, egg-shaped berries about a quarter inch long, usually hidden under the leaves. The berries are edible and taste of wintergreen.
The fruit ripens in August in New England, the upper Great Lakes, and Canada. It is a close relative of teaberry and shares its flavor. The plant is uncommon and protected in several states, so it should be tasted and not gathered.
34. Common Snowberry
Common snowberry is a native shrub of the northern states that carries clusters of white, marble-sized berries into winter. The inside of each berry is white, spongy, and dry, like packed snow. It is widely planted for winter interest.
These berries are not for eating. They contain compounds that cause vomiting and dizziness, especially in children. Birds eat them only late in winter, after better food is gone.
35. White Baneberry
White baneberry, also called doll’s eyes, is a woodland plant of the eastern states. Each white berry has a black dot at its tip and sits on a thick, bright red stalk. The clusters look like the porcelain eyes once used in dolls.
This is the most dangerous fruit on the list, and the berries and other plant parts are extremely poisonous when eaten. The toxins act on the heart. The berries appear in late summer and last 4 to 6 weeks.
36. Poison Ivy Berries
Poison ivy produces clusters of small, waxy, grayish-white berries in fall. They stay on the vine through winter, long after the telltale leaves have dropped. That makes them a useful way to identify the plant in the cold months.
The berries carry the same oil that causes the rash and must never be touched or eaten. Dozens of bird species eat them without harm and spread the seeds. Poison sumac has similar white berries that hang in loose, drooping clusters.
37. Red Osier Dogwood Berries
Red osier dogwood is a native shrub best known for its bright red winter stems. In summer it bears flat clusters of white berries, sometimes tinged with blue. They ripen from July to September.
The berries are not poisonous, but they are very bitter and not worth eating. They are high in fat and are an important food for migrating birds. The shrub grows along streams and wet ground across the northern states.
38. White Eggplant
White eggplant is the reason the plant has its English name, since the first types known in Europe were small, white, and egg-shaped. Modern varieties such as ‘Casper’ are longer and ivory white. The flesh is mild and firm, with less bitterness than purple types.
Pure white, glossy skin marks a fruit at the right stage. Once the skin starts to turn yellow, the eggplant is overmature, seedy, and bitter. The skin is slightly thicker than that of purple eggplant and is sometimes peeled.
39. Lumina Pumpkin
Lumina is a white-skinned pumpkin weighing 10 to 15 pounds, with bright orange flesh inside. The smooth, pale rind makes it popular for painting and carving. The flesh is also good for baking.
The white skin can turn yellow or bluish if the fruit sits too long in strong sun. Growers harvest it as soon as the rind hardens and store it in shade. Smaller white varieties such as ‘Baby Boo’ are used for table displays.
40. White Pattypan Squash
White pattypan squash is a flat, scalloped summer squash shaped like a small flying saucer. It was grown by Native Americans long before European contact. The flesh is mild and a little firmer than zucchini.
The skin is pale green when very young and turns creamy white as it grows. It is best picked at 2 to 4 inches across, while a fingernail still pierces the skin easily. Larger fruit becomes hard and seedy.
41. White Acorn Squash
White acorn squash is a pale form of the familiar ribbed winter squash. ‘Cream of the Crop’ has creamy white skin and won an All-America Selections award in 1990. The flesh is pale gold, mild, and slightly nutty.
As a winter squash, it is harvested fully mature, when the rind is too hard to dent with a fingernail. The skin deepens from white to cream as it cures. It stores for 2 to 3 months in a cool room.
42. White Cucumber
White cucumber has ivory skin, crisp flesh, and a mild taste with little bitterness. ‘White Wonder’ is an heirloom from the 1890s, and ‘Salt and Pepper’ is a modern pickling type. The second is named for its white skin peppered with tiny black spines.
Cucumbers are picked immature, so the right color is pale ivory. A white cucumber that has turned yellow or cream-gold is overripe, seedy, and often bitter. Frequent picking keeps the vines producing.
43. White Beefsteak Tomato
White beefsteak tomatoes, such as ‘Great White’ and ‘White Beauty’, are really ivory to pale yellow. They contain no lycopene and very little of the other tomato pigments. The flavor is sweet and fruity, with a mild, low-acid taste.
Fruit shaded by leaves stays whiter, while fruit in direct sun turns more yellow. With no red to watch for, ripeness is judged by a slight softness. The fruits often weigh 1 pound or more.
44. Snow White Cherry Tomato
Snow White is a cherry tomato with ivory skin that ripens to the palest yellow. It is sweet and fruity, with none of the sharp bite of red cherry tomatoes. The plants are tall, vigorous, and productive.
The fruit is ready when it shifts from greenish-white to cream and gives slightly. Fruits ripen a few at a time along each cluster. They make a striking mix with red and dark varieties in a salad.
45. White Bell Pepper
White bell pepper is a sweet pepper that is ivory to pale yellow at the stage when it is picked. Varieties include ‘White Cloud’ and ‘Bianca’. The taste is mild, crisp, and lightly sweet.
The white stage is an immature one, and the pepper turns orange or red if left on the plant. It is harvested when full-sized, firm, and glossy. It is used mainly to add contrast to salads and vegetable trays.
46. White Habanero
White habanero is a small, creamy-white hot pepper only 1 to 2 inches long, shaped like a jelly bean. It is as hot as an orange habanero, at 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units. The flavor is fruity with a smoky edge.
Pods ripen from pale green to cream-white, and the white stage is the ripe one. The bushy plants are slow, needing 90 to 100 days, but bear heavily. The pale color gives no warning of the heat.
47. White Bitter Melon
White bitter melon is a pearly, warty gourd popular in Taiwanese and Okinawan cooking. It is noticeably less bitter than the green type. It is sliced for stir-fries and soups or pressed for juice.
The fruit is eaten immature, while firm and pure white. If it turns yellow-orange and splits to show red seed coats, it is overripe. It is sold at Asian markets in summer.
48. White Corn
White corn belongs here because each kernel on an ear is a complete fruit. White kernels lack the yellow carotenoid pigments, including the one the body turns into vitamin A. ‘Silver Queen’, introduced in 1955, remains a favorite in the Mid-Atlantic states and the South.
Kernel color has nothing to do with sweetness, which depends on the variety. An ear is ready when the silks are brown and dry and a punctured kernel releases milky juice. White corn is also the standard for hominy and grits.
49. Winter Melon
Winter melon, or wax gourd, is a huge, oblong gourd that often weighs 20 to 40 pounds. Its dark green skin is coated with a white, waxy bloom that looks like frost and inspired the name. The flesh is snow white and mild, like a firm cucumber.
The wax coating forms as the fruit matures and lets it store for up to a year. It is simmered in soups, where it absorbs the flavor of the broth. Asian markets sell it by the slice.
50. Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon
Cream of Saskatchewan is an heirloom watermelon with creamy white flesh, brought to the Canadian prairies by immigrants from Eastern Europe. The round fruits weigh 8 to 10 pounds and have a pale green, striped rind. The flesh is very sweet and crisp.
The rind is so thin and brittle that the melon cracks easily and cannot be shipped. It matures in about 80 days, which suits short northern summers. Ripeness is judged by a dried tendril and a yellow ground spot.
Key Takeaways
- White-colored fruits range from familiar favorites to unusual tropical and subtropical varieties, with differences in size, shape, texture, and flavor.
- Some fruits have white or cream-colored skin, while others have white flesh hidden beneath green, yellow, pink, or reddish skin.
- Common examples include white peaches, white nectarines, white guavas, lychees, longans, white mulberries, and certain apple and grape varieties.
- White fruit flesh can result from naturally occurring pigments and lower concentrations of colored compounds compared with darker-colored varieties.
- The flavor of white fruits varies considerably, ranging from sweet and juicy to mildly tart, floral, creamy, or aromatic.
- Many white-colored fruits provide useful seasonal interest in gardens and orchards, while several tropical varieties require warm temperatures and suitable growing conditions.