Club apple varieties gain ground

Michigan growers are adding more club varieties to their product mixes.

BelleHarvest Sales Inc., Belding, Mich., for instance, is betting big on them. The company has inked a deal to become the official Midwestern licensee of the Smitten apple, an early-season New Zealand-bred variety that has been on the market for about five years, said Chris Sandwick, BelleHarvest's vice president of sales and marketing.

The first trees are being planted this year, and the first fruit should be harvested in about three years, Sandwick said.

"It's crunchy, very sweet, with great texture," Sandwick said. "It does really well in taste tests."

BelleHarvest also has increased production for this season on its Topaz apples, which the company has grown for five years.

The tart - or, as

Sandwick calls it, "vibrantly acidic" - variety has a "nice niche following."

BelleHarvest also will ship light volumes of Evercrisp, a Honeycrisp/fuji cross-bred in Ohio. The company got the right to grow the variety when it joined the Midwestern Apple Improvement Association, Sandwick said.

"We'll have a lot more next year," he said. "It's another one with great texture, and it stores pretty well. We may see it later in the season.

In the post-Honeycrisp era, growers and shippers often seek out new varieties that can replicate Honeycrisp's famous crunch.

"Texture is always number one" in consumer preference tests, Sandwick said. "It beats flavor every time."

Production of Kiku and Kanzi apples will be up significantly this year and for the next several years at Deerfield, Mich.-based Applewood Orchards Inc., said Scott Swindeman, the company's vice president. Comstock Park, Mich.-based All Fresh GPS LLC, in which Swindeman is a partner, will market the fruit.

Applewood has exclusive Midwest rights to Kikus and Kanzis. Younger trees are ramping up production as they mature, and new trees continued to be planted, he said.

All Fresh will also market more SweeTangos this year, Swindeman said.

Diane Smith, executive director of the Lansing-based Michigan Apple Committee, said SweeTangos, Kikus and Smittens are among the top club varieties making a bigger splash in Michigan.

"There are quite a few popping up, and those three are definitely the ones where we've seen increases. And there are more to come," she said.

When it comes to new varieties, two qualities stand out, Smith said.

"From the consumer's point of view, sweet and crunchy are where it's at," she said.

That's not all, though. Despite the Honeycrisp's huge growth since being introduced, it's actually one of the variety's weak points that growers are often looking to improve on with new varieties, Smith said.

"Storageability is also incredibly important, since Honeycrisps are such a temperamental apple."

Don Armock, president of Riveridge Produce Marketing Inc., Sparta, Mich., said this will be the first year his company will ship Pink Ladies in volume.

The company also is in the process of test-piloting two more new varieties, which for the moment are under wraps, Armock said.

"We're not on the front line on some of those (new varieties), but we'll be there quickly."

"Mouth feel" is at the top of the list for what consumers want in new apple varieties, Armock said.

"If it doesn't have that, it's an immediate roadblock."

Beyond that, though, there's a lot of room for experimentation, he said.

"Everyone's palate is different. You don't have to have another Honeycrisp, but you do have to have varieties that add excitement to the department."

Fortunately, apples and other fruits have that going for them, Armock said.

"The chance to experience something new makes shopping fun."

Tom Labbe, sales manager/domestic accounts for Jack Brown Produce, Sparta, Mich., said the company could increase its Pink Lady volumes next year or the following year, but for 2016-17, shipments should be similar to the year before.

"It's kind of a work in progress," Labbe said.