Sainsbury’s has signed a two-year exclusive agreement for new pear variety Pear Drop.
The golden-skinned, aromatic variety, developed by NFG (Next Fruit Generation) is the result of a seven-year project to unearth an alternative to successful southern hemisphere golden pears. It has been given the Pear Drop moniker due to its taste, which is similar to the popular British sweet.
Sainsbury’s has sold small quantities of the Dutch-grown fruit this season and will stock larger volumes in its Taste the Difference range for the first time in the 2007/08 season, to fill the post-Christmas window through to the arrival of Taylor’s Gold in April.
“The variety is picked in October, but trials have shown that Pear Drop has much better taste characteristics once it has been in cold store for six weeks,” said Next Fruit Generation’s Jop van Doorn. “One of the great advantages of this variety is that it is scab resistant, so lends itself well to organic production. There has already been great interest from South-American grower organisations for planting this variety.”
“We are building up a band of dedicated growers and the pear will be produced and marketed with the club concept,” he added. “Following numerous conversations with Sainsburys, we’ve also been talking to a number of English growers about planting this variety in the UK as trials have shown it will grow well in England too”
Sainsbury’s top-fruit buyer Neil Gibson said: “We recognise this as an opportunity to have a unique variety at Sainsbury’s and the premium range is where the growth is in the pear category. Conference is static, for instance, but there has been a 20-30 per cent increment in Taylor’s Gold sales. Pear Drop has all the potential to build on that.”
