New varieties of fruit and vegetables

New varieties of fruit and vegetables

We are breeding new varieties of fruit and vegetables just as fast as the old ones are disappearing. And this isn’t always just about increasing yields, but also, you’ll be surprised to know, about improving taste.

In the summer of 2014, the British supermarket chain Waitrose put four new varieties of grapes with exotic aromas on its shelves: Strawberry, which, as its name suggests, tastes of strawberries, Cotton Candy, which has hints of candyfloss, Sweet Mayabelle, which has a sweet, floral aroma, and Mango. Its competitor Tesco responded with purple carrots (Purple Bushytops) that are grown in East Anglia, taste sweet and do not need to be peeled.

Sicilian plant breeders have given us seedless oranges that look like large strawberries, are called Fragolino and have a particularly strong flavour, plus clementines with red flesh (crossed with the classic Tarocco blood orange). And from Alicante in Spain comes a new variety of tomato, with as many as 200 (!) fruit on every plant – the cherry plum tomato called La Nucia. The English Flower Sprout can be fried, blanched, boiled or eaten raw. This cross between Brussels sprouts and curly kale was first presented in early 2014 at the international Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin. Another premiere was that of Wildfire Rocket, a British-bred rocket variety, which is more peppery than traditional variants and has sharper leaf edges.

In 2014, Rijk Zwaan, the leading Dutch plant breeder, not only introduced a smooth-leaved endive (Cardaki 11-605) and an extra-sweet pepper (Fabris RZ) onto the market, but also new varieties of celeriac (“ideally suited for long-term storage”), crisphead lettuce (“a neat, well-shaped underside speeds up harvesting”) and Crunchy Cos, an “aromatic” cross between Iceberg and Romaine lettuces.

Researchers at the University of California have developed a new type of avocado (Gem™), which is now being grown in New Zealand. It is slightly larger than Hass avocados and its skin changes from dark green to a shade of dark blackish-purple with yellow flecks when it is ripe. Independent tasting panels in Europe have described the quality and flavour of the fruit as exceptional.

Seedless grapes, mandarins and oranges have been around for a long time. In Israel, a seedless papaya called Aurora has been developed that is being cultivated in Ecuador, “tastes wonderful” and “has no unpleasant odour or aftertaste”. It sounds great! Indian scientists have bred a mango without a stone (Sindhu), which is juicy and sweet. Its yellow flesh has fewer fibres than other varieties of mango.

And in the spring of 2015, a new variety of apple will finally come onto the market. It will be known as Paradis Sparkling®. According to the Swiss grower Markus Kobelt, it is tart but sweet, as sparkling as an effervescent tablet and has a very special texture. We can’t wait.

(Rainer Meier)