A red-fleshed apple with a distinctive berry flavour is among a trio of distinctive new apple varieties due to undergo in-market trials in Europein the coming weeks.
The range of red-fleshed cultivars, which includes the world’s first commercially distributed apple with orange skin, will be sold under a new brand, Kissabel.
Members of Ifored, the consortium of producers which is behind the range, are aiming within the next five years to produce the apples in a total of 13 countries and sell them in markets worldwide.
“We think these new varieties are amazing and will attract consumers around the world,” commented Ifored project manager Emmanuel de Lapparent, who unveiled the new brand as well as its accompanying strapline, ‘I’m Red Inside’, at a special press conference during the Fruit Attraction trade fair in Madrid., Spain.
The three new apples are: Kissabel Rouge, a deep red fruit with red and white flesh, full flavour and notes of berry; Kissabel Jaune, a pink-centred variety with a crisp and aromatic taste; and Kissabel Orange, with its orange skin, pink-red flesh and an eating experience described as juicy and firm.
Ifored’s objective is to enlarge the range further in due course by adding other red- and pink-fleshed varieties with new skin colours.
Ifored chairman Bruno Essner said the launch was the latest step in a 20-year programme to research and develop varieties that could offer something visually unique, as well as great diversity in terms of taste, harvest times, flesh and skin colour.
“We realise we’ve undertaken a very ambitious project to create a new fruit category,” he commented. “What’s important however is that, in all parts of the market, we now have a marketing concept and the fruit will be marketed everywhere under the Kissabel brand.”
Paolo Gerevini, general director of leading Italian apple marketer Melinda, said his company fully backed the project and saw a bright future for red-fleshed apples.
“We believe in this project because we think that it’s important to expand consumption of apples and I think that in order to achieve this objective, there is a need for something really new, something revolutionary,” he told Fruitnet.
First developed in France, Kissabel apples will eventually be grown and sold by producers in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
Partners in the Ifored consortium are: Alliance Mesfruits Gerfruit, Blue Whale, Dutoit, Empire World Trade, Fenaco, International Fruit Obtention (IP rights holder), Mono Azul, Montague Fresh, NovaMela (La Trentina, Melinda, Rivoira, VI.P, Vog), Next Big Thing, Nufri, Red Apple Germany (Elbe-Obst, ELO, Landgard, MaBo, MAL, OGM, Veos, Vog, Wog), Unifrutti, Worldwide Fruit and Yummy Fruit Company.
