Sun World targets grapes, stone fruit for foodservice

Sun World Innovations breeders hope to repeat some of their success with grapes as they develop stone fruit varieties.

"We're trying to resurrect stone fruit," Terry Bacon, vice president of variety development, told Markon Chef Summit attendees. "Stone fruit has been slowly fading, especially as other products come on. They start to get in a battle for shelf space. In the past, a lot of stone fruit breeders worked on larger size at the expense of flavor, texture and juiciness.

"Today we're working on things like different flesh types," he said. "Peaches and nectarines have shorter storage potential. There are flesh types that are very slow ripening and softening that will benefit not only consumers, but you."

Bacon spoke to chefs Aug. 23 in an education session at Markon Cooperative's second annual event in Monterey. Sun World Innovations is a division of Sun World International.

Grapes have proven congenial to branding, according to Bacon, more so than some other fruits.

"With grapes, branding is super important," he said. "Nobody really wants a public variety anymore. They want to have something special. They want to have something that's controlled and not just openly available."

Sun World now has more than 27,000 licensed acres and 63 licensed grape marketers worldwide.