The supply of the Sierra Honey plum series has increased this season out of California. "We did a little bit last year. We've only had them available for the last few seasons so now the crop has expanded a bit with some new varieties that we've developed," says Chad Allred, Vice President of Kingsburg Orchards. "Overall, the crop looks strong with good fruit quality. We've been very very happy with it."
The series of plum varieties that are exclusive to the shipper-packer are branded under the Sierra Honey name. "The plums are a range of colors anywhere from almost 100 percent green to about 70-80 percent red–they all have coloring in that green, red, and yellow color combination," he says, adding that packing has just begun on the line. "The biggest thing was to get consumers to accept green plums because typically green is not a color people look for in plums. They equate that with sour. However, this is exactly the opposite."
The fruit, which is being packed in a 10 x 1 lb. clamshell and a 12 x 2 lb. pouch bag, is slightly tropical with a crisp texture and is extremely sweet with low acid levels. "The Brix levels range anywhere from 18-19 to as high as 25+," says Allred.
Fall production
Production on the Sierra Honey series began approximately a week ago and it's anticipated that supply will extend to the early part of November.
With this line expanding into the marketplace, it's a sign of yet another fruit category that is seeing increased varietal diversification. "This was actually happening in plums long before it was happening in apples and grapes for example. The plum category as a whole, consumption has been growing over the last four to five years because of better variety development," says Allred. "Plums have always been on the shelves and people bought them but typically the flavor had been okay and people didn't always purchase them again. Now they are seeing repeat business because they are eating so well."
Demand is growing to match this expanded program. Meanwhile, pricing is very similar to last year. "Especially when we're introducing new items, a lot of the time we try to keep the pricing pretty similar year over year when we're trying to get new customers involved," he says.
For more information:
Kingsburg Orchards
Tel: +1 (559) 897-2986
[email protected]
www.kingsburgorchards.com