Pioneers in the cultivation of red kiwis in France, Vergers Cancel and Aurières Fruits have started their marketing campaign. They intend to boost the kiwi department with their Red Passion brand.
‘The kiwi was one of the rare products for which there was only one color and one variety. A few years ago, the yellow kiwi arrived and it is now time for some red kiwis,” explains Maxime Gil, general manager of Vergers Cancel. Starting next week, the red kiwi, with its slight red fruit flavor, will be available everywhere in France until the end of December.
The French production of this fruit is still in its early stages, but it should grow in the coming years. “For now, our own production will only last until late December/early January, but with more volumes, the marketing period will be able to last until March. For this season, we will complete our offer with red kiwis from Italy in order to extend the season and offer our customers an alternative with a complementary origin.”
The Red Passion kiwi is linked to the Kiwi Passion consortium based in Italy and created in 2019. It brings together producers and retailers of Greek, Spanish, French and Italian kiwis.
A potential of 150 tons this year and 1,500 tons within 5 years
Jean-Michel Aurières was the first French producer to start producing red kiwis in 2018. He now has 8 hectares cultivated in photovoltaic greenhouses. “It is the largest plantation in France, and even in Europe, because it is a large-scale and innovative project. We also have a second producer who harvested for the first time this year.”
The production is destined to grow since the ambition is to reach 50 hectares planted within 3 years, with a potential of 1,000 to 1,500 tons of red kiwis within 5 years. This goal should be achieved thanks to the joint venture Kiwi Origine created in 2021 by Vergers Cancel and Jean-Michel Aurières. “We have set up a plan to monitor varietal innovations and test them. Once the process is validated, we deploy them to our 200 partner producers.”
Red Passion kiwis available in cardboard trays
A kiwi that meets the expectations of consumers looking for a sweeter taste
With its colorful heart and red fruit notes, the red kiwi has a lot to offer. “Visually speaking, the fruit is attractive and innovative. And its taste is also completely different: it is sweeter, less acidic, it melts more and also has a slight taste of red fruit and fig that makes it quite exceptional. It is exactly what attracted our attention because the nice visual aspect alone would not have been enough for us to start a production.”
According to Maxime Gil, this “exceptional taste” and “catchy color” will help the fruit find a prominent place on the shelves. The red kiwi will attract the consumers who prefer sweet products and dislike the acidity of the green kiwi. This was obvious at the tasting events, no matter the age of the consumer. Everyone was unanimous about the taste.” But the red kiwi also has other advantages as it contains twice as much vitamin C as its green counterpart and its taste does not suffer when it is too ripe.”
For more information:
Maxime Gil
Vergers Cancel
1 rue de l'Occitanie, ZI de Barrès 3
82100 Castelsarrasin
Phone: +33 (0)5 63 04 82 13
vergers-cancel.fr