Growing in the southern regions of the country, the Chilean white strawberry contains the genetic roots of a variety of modern garden, but the variety is almost extinct in the country. A harvest lasts five weeks. During this period, a festival was held in Chile. During the fairs, Chileans prepare a variety of green fruit dishes: desserts, jams and eat a low-alcohol drink called cleri.

"White strawberries are a kind of link with our past," explains Christian Monsalve, director of Economic Development for the municipality of Purén, which has the largest number of local fruit fields in Chile. The white strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis, subsp. chiloensis) was brought to Europe in 1714 by the French Amédée François Frezier. The berry was then crossed with the Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) from the eastern United States, creating the garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), an important commercial strawberry that is ubiquitous.

Ironically, garden strawberries returned to Chile in 1830 and gradually replaced the secular white strawberries. The first blow in the production of traditional fruits was dated in 1985 by the Lebu-Los Sauces railway, which delivered Colheita to Concepción, chile's third largest city. The development of carpentry in agricultural provinces has led farmers to leave their fields and look for work in a better-paying industry.  

Now, in the province of "strawberry", less than two dozen families still grow white strawberries. Climate change, manifested in the form of infrequent snowfall in winter and drought in summer, also caused a reduction in berry production.

Source: Agrolink