Greenstar apples went into Tesco stores nation-wide this week, heralding a potential breakthrough for the UK-grown green dessert cultivar.
The apple - a cross between Granny Smith and Delcorf - was bred by Johann Nicolai in Belgium and grown by the UK licence-holder for the variety, Adrian Scripps Ltd in Kent.
“We have worked very closely with Tesco to get it into the right pack format and this week it is in 525 stores,” said James Simpson, Adrian Scripps md. The fruit is appearing on shelves in over-wrapped four-pack trays featuring Union Jacks, “Grown by Adrian Scripps” and “Exclusive to Tesco” on packaging. It retails at £1.49.
Fruit will be in store for six to eight weeks and Tesco and Scripps are running tasting this month to get consumer feedback and find out which types of apple-consumer Greenstar appeals to.
After extensive trials, Scripps found that Greenstar benefits from several weeks in cold storage. “We found that the flavour improves and it also has relatively good sugar levels and for an apple, good levels of vitamin C,” said Simpson.
Greenstar is characterised by its crisp, clean white flesh, it is not as tart as Granny Smith and its shape is very slightly more elongated. And because of its high vitamin C content, it is not prone to turning brown once cut either.
The ultimate goal for Scripps is to achieve year-round availability. Although 50 per cent of world production is on its UK orchards, there are plantings in Italy and Belgium and discussions are being arranged with organisations in the southern hemisphere.
UK Greenstar production is around 300 tonnes, and Simpson forecasts this will rise steeply over the next two years as more of Scripps’s 35,000 trees come into bearing.
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