Boysenberries New Zealand has wrapped up its harvest earlier than normal this year, with volumes around 20 per cent up on last year's season.
General Manager Julian Raine says the very early start to the season, was thanks to hot dry conditions over the late spring and summer.
"We normally start around 15th of December, but this year we started 10 days earlier than that, which is the earliest on record," he said. "So we only went a few days into January this year, which is quite unusual. But overall a good harvest"
He says despite the heat and the rain late last year, and the storms in January across the North of the country, the weather did not hinder the harvest at all.
"Although, the dry and heat did mean water restrictions came into force pre-harvest and through harvest, volume was up on the previous season, which was a poor season, and it looks close to the 10 year average," Mr Raine said.
Boysenberries New Zealand is a co-operative that has been going for 27 years and represents the majority of the boysenberry production of the country. It is based in Nelson and has growers across the region from Richmond on the Waimea Plains through to Motueka, and mainly sells boysenberry products.
"We don't sell to the fresh market, but some of our growers do," Mr Raine said. "Because the fruit is very perishable, like it only lasts a few days, so it doesn't have much of a shelf life. Gate sales are usually the main way of fresh sales. Trucking it around New Zealand is difficult, boysenberries do not stand up to transport very well, because they bleed. It's like peeling a ripe orange or a grape and transporting it somewhere."
Therefore, the company focuses more on the processed market, and Mr Raine says boysenberry a very popular flavour across the domestic market with the company selling boysenberry fruit concentrate, puree (with seeds in or out), both individually quick and block frozen and powder.
"It's very popular in ice creams, and dairy products," he said. "It would be one of the highest uptake in the yoghurt as well as the ice cream markets. It has been the number one fruit flavour for decades in ice cream. Outside of the dairy, boysenberries go into jams and juices - so the drinks market - and it is often put with apple because apple is less expensive compared to boysenberries. It’s a very thirst quenching flavour, and people just love it. Our challenge is to replicate this in other markets. We are a niche flavour and colour."
Boysenberries New Zealand supplies to nine different countries, outside the domestic market, including Australia, as well as nations in Asia, Middle East and Europe. One of the key drivers to demand, according to Mr Raine, is the health benefits.
"So outside of it being a good berry, there is strong interest in the health benefits of boysenberries with lung health in Asia," he said. "They have found that boysenberries have a characteristic that if consumed in the right form and right quantities, it will repair certain lung damage. Popularity is increasing in Europe and the Middle East, and there is quite a bit of excitement in Asia - because of the lung health benefits, people are seeing that as a property they'd like to explore."
For more information:Julian Raine
Boysenberries New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 547 5938