The first Jazz apples of the season from New Zealand have landed on UK shores with thousands of free samples going on offer at the BBC’s Good Food and Gardners show.
The new apple brand, a cross between Royal Gala and Braeburn varieties, is now available in supermarkets across the country. This year’s crop is over 10 per cent up on the last Southern Hemisphere season in volume and will be available until early November.
Gary Harrison, of Worldwide Fruit Ltd and the UK commercial manager for Jazz, said: “The new season fruit has now successfully been phased in and the quality is outstanding. We’re incredibly lucky to have our hugely talented, professional and passionate growers, who ensure that the eating quality of Jazz is unbeatable.”
The new batch will even appear at the Birmingham NEC for four days in June, to be sampled by 100,000 consumers at the BBC Good Food and Gardners show, to highlight their availability.
Jazz Apple have also created a selection of downloadable children’s activity puzzles for the summer that aim to educate kids about apples and how to live a healthy and active lifestyle.
A digital summer recipe booklet created by blog Happy Skin Kitchen showcasing a range of vegetarian and vegan barbecue recipes using Jazz will also be launched.
Harrison added: “We’re thrilled to be heading back to Birmingham for the BBC Good Food & Gardeners Show again as it’s a great way to showcase the new crop to consumers. It’s been a fantastic year for the brand already with the variety pipping Cox to become the UK’s fifth most popular apple and with further brand activity planned we believe it will only get better.”
Jazz Apple recently ousted Cox and became the UK’s fifth most popular apple with an all-time high retail value of £46.9million, an increase of 40.8% over the last three years.
