The Flavor Tree Fruit Company will have significant pomegranate volume this year, said Maurice Cameron, sales director of Hanford, Calif.-based company.
“We should be a major player in the pomegranate deal— we’ve got about 2,500 acres of Wonderful variety pomegranates,” he said. Harvest will begin for the company in October. The crop may be slightly lighter than a year ago, but sizing is expected to be good.
“We’re planning on having the fruit through February,” he said, noting the company has controlled atmosphere storage.
“We can regulate how much to keep for the late season,” he said. “The only caveat we have is we want to make sure we have enough fruit available for the holidays because everybody needs to have pomegranates for sale for Thanksgiving and even Christmas,” he said.
Aril growth
The Flavor Tree Fruit Company has a new plant to produce arils and is growing that business, Cameron said.
“We’re going to offering in two different size cups,” he said, noting the 4.4-ounce and 8-ounce options. California pomegranate arils are expected to be available into March.
This year, Flavor Tree imported Argentina pomegranates to process into arils at their California facility, which is part of the company’s strategy to be a year-round supplier of arils, Cameron said.
“We are attempting to get into the 12-month a year aril deal,” he said.
The company also is expected to enter the not-from-concentrate pomegranate juice market by the end of the year.
Flavor Tree also will start offering golden kiwifruit from the firm’s 100 acres by about Oct. 15, he said.
“I think it looks like it should be a good crop,” he said. “Most of the vines are so young that they’re just getting into stride,” he said.
Related articles
Flavor Tree expects huge growth for Verry Cherry plums
Flavor Tree promotes Amanda Vietti
California pomegranates setting up for peak season
