Top-fruit category manager and producer organisation Fruition has been sampling new pear variety Velvetine.
New Zealand exporter Enza supplied the fruit, which was bred by the Prevar partnership and only unveiled in April this year. It is a cross between two varieties: Conference and little-known Peter Barry.
“We only received a few cases of this variety and working with Waitrose we decided to sample it at their John Barnes store in Finchley last Friday to gauge customer reactions,” said Fruition’s Steve Maxwell who described Velvetine as having a “juicy firm texture with a buttery, almost tropical taste”.
Rik Connor and Toni Denton of Fruition spent the day in store and gave samples out to more than 300 customers. “We had great feedback with many commenting that the aroma and flavour were excellent. One customer compared it to a ‘lovely Chardonnay’,” they said.
Maxwell added that Fruition and Waitrose were “greatly enthused by Velvetine and we look forward to being able to sell more volume exclusively in Waitrose next summer”.
