Growers hope a newly bred variety of apricot will re-energise consumer interest in the fruit while also enabling the growth of export markets.
Plant Food Research at Clyde in Central Otago has bred three variations of the new variety, labelled NZ Summer 2, 3 and 4, which variously mature earlier and later than current varieties and are also sweeter, juicier and have a more intense apricot taste.
Commercial names for the three variations are still to be decided.
NZ Summer Fresh has the master licence from Plant and Food and will manage the variety’s commercialisation and expansion.
Its chair, Stephen Darling, said the new variety has the potential to reposition the fruit.
“As a sector within the fruit industry, apricots as a product have fallen out of favour, as attention has moved to other fruits.
“This has the chance to strengthen the fruit through these exciting and new varieties.”
The picking season for existing apricot varieties, Sundrop and Clutha Gold, runs from early January to early February.
Darling said Summer 4 matures earlier and will be available for picking before Christmas ,while Summer 2 and 3 ripen from early February to early March.
This extends the fruit’s picking and selling season while a shelf life that is longer than that of current varieties will enable new export markets to be developed.
“We can supply overseas markets after sales of all other southern hemisphere product has ended,” he said.
To get to this point has taken 20 years of breeding, selection and assessing.
Darling said validation of earlier findings is underway and it will take several more years of scaling up plantings and consumer tasting before the fruit is widely available.
More than 50,000 trees have been planted by existing fruit growers in Central Otago, with some trial plantings in the North Island.
Darling said the view is that the trees need harsh winters, but trials in the North Island will determine if that is the case.
Small volumes of fruit will be available next summer and will be used to validate earlier work and for consumer tasting.
NZ Summer Fresh is open to any orchardist wanting to grow the variety.
