"Bella Jewel apriums are starting this week – a beautiful fruit with dark skin and dark red flesh that’s taken off with customers," says Dovey Plain with Family Tree Farms. The company grows apriums as well as other specialty tree fruit like plumcots, white flesh peaches and nectarines.
Cross of plum and apricot
The aprium is a hybrid fruit that is comprised genetically of one-fourth plum and three-fourths apricot. Aprium varieties are not as numerous as their counterpart hybrid, plumcots. “For a long time we only had one aprium variety,” explained Plain. “Then a few years ago, our Rose and Purple Rose varieties started producing commercially and that’s when the category really seemed to take off for us. We are currently producing five varieties of aprium.”
Juicy, sweet fruit
Apriums are extremely juicy and sweet. “They’ve got a lot of that apricot sweetness, but yet the texture of a plum – somewhat firm to the bite,” said Plain. “It’s a very pleasant eating experience.” Consumers seem to finally be catching on to this relatively new fruit. Plain stated that 2015 seemed to be a year of “consumer discovery” for apriums based on the number of emails they received. But, she added, “There’s still a lot of discovery left from a consumer standpoint.”
Varieties coming on now; peak in August
Bella Jewel, starting harvest this week, is a lighter variety in terms of volume. After Bella Jewel, there is a gap of a few weeks before their heavy aprium volume hits in July and August. Once July hits, expect multiple varieties and strong volume through August. As Plain explained, “We call these varieties the ‘rose’ family – Crimson Rose, Rose, Purple Rose and Midnight Rose. They all have a beautiful appearance and flavor to back it up.”
Plumcots start this week
Family Tree Farms distributes fruit to Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico and of course domestically throughout the United States. Their plumcots are also starting this week. “Plumcots tend to be a little light in volume on the front end of summer, but it will rapidly pick up speed. We have around 30-35 varieties; each one lasting anywhere from two to six weeks.” Plain commented that getting consumers to understand that fact is one of their biggest challenges. “They could be finding a different variety of plumcot each time they’re in the store. That’s where POS signage can be a great help in educating consumers and prompting sales.”
Good fruit set
The season outlook for stone fruit looks pretty good from the Family Tree Farms perspective. “It’s been a great spring growing season. We’ve had no hail and that’s always a good thing,” said Plain. “The fruit set is good. It’s not a bumper crop, but not light either. It’s normal if there is such a thing in agriculture.”
For more information:
Dovey Plain
Family Tree Farms
Tel: 559-591-6280
