Harvesting of the apple variety Kissabel with its distinctive red (pink to dark red) pulp in southern hemisphere countries such as Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa has ended in recent weeks.Australian growers are reporting high yields from the variety this season due to favourable weather conditions, with excellent fruit size and pulp colour performance.
The Kissabel brand includes a variety of distinctive apple products: Kissabel Rouge has a deep red skin, red and white flesh, and a rich taste with berry aromas; Kissabel Jaune is a pink-fleshed variety with a crunchy taste; Kissabel Orange It was the first apple variety to have an orange peel, pink flesh, and a juicy, firm taste.
Australia was one of the first countries to start growing the Kissabel variety.Angela Bracken, Marketing Manager at Montague, the country's Victorian fruit grower, commented: "The summer just passed was cooler than usual, with above-average rainfall in most growing areas. This will give us high quality, large size The overall result is very positive, despite some problems caused by being too wet.”
Bracken said the company had tested Kissabel in local communities and collected consumer feedback on its visual appeal, texture and flavour."We've had really good feedback on all fronts, with a lot of consumers buying back and being very curious about it," she said.
Montague has also included Kissabel apples in a consumer-facing orchard tour program, teaching them how to pick and taste the apple variety.The company has also launched various marketing campaigns to promote consumption of this Apple series.The Kissabel planting project in New Zealand is also progressing."This year is our third year of trial planting," said Paul Paynter, general manager of Yummyfruit."These apples with low acidity are particularly popular with Asian consumers, and they are also a market target that we are increasingly focusing on."
South Africa, another major production region, has entered the advanced testing stage."We will focus on red meat varieties, with commercial marketing expected to start in 2025, and focus on local distribution in premium supermarkets, which is our main goal," said Tanith Freeman, product development manager at Dutoit in the country.
Unifrutti (Chile) and Mono Azul (Argentina) have also carried out trials in their respective countries with positive results.“The color and crispness of the flesh of Kissabel is very good,” says Riccardo Gatti, head of production at Unifrutti."There has been very good feedback from those who had the opportunity to taste them, and the limited stock sold out quickly. This year we will focus on testing in Central America, and we are very optimistic about the next steps in our marketing."
Project Manager Emmanuel de Lapparent also confirmed this positive outlook, commenting: "Seeing that the IFORD (International Federation of Growers, which has been tasked with developing this red-fleshed apple product range) project has also made great progress in the southern hemisphere, our The partners are planning their first pilot plantations, which is fantastic. Soon they will have more production to assess the market potential of the fruit and promote the Kissabel brand.”
