Zespri International, the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit, has introduced a red kiwifruit on limited release in supermarkets across New Zealand as part of a nationwide sales trial. The new fruit is still some way off from full commercialization and Zespri is looking for feedback from consumers and retailers about the taste, color, shelf-life and storage handling of the distinctive red fruit.

“It’s important to emphasize that the limited release is effectively a trial and an exciting opportunity to get some feedback from consumers and retailers about how the fruit tastes, stores and travels,” Yannis Naumann, Senior Communications Advisor at Zespri, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. 

“We’ll sit down and review the data we get from this initiative and other research we have underway on optimizing on-orchard and supply chain performance and additional consumer/marketing projects which will help us decide whether we should make Zespri Red more widely available,” he says. 

According to the company, the red kiwi variants are “best eaten a little soft, keep in your fruit bowl for a day or two for the best eating experience and refrigerate for keeping.”

“It’s packed with 100 percent natural goodness, grown with Mother Nature’s building blocks and naturally bred from kiwifruit cultivars,” the company says on its Facebook page. 

According to reports, the company is expected to release 30,000 trays of the fruit grown in a handful of New Zealand orchards to both national supermarket chains and selected retailers over the next five weeks. 

“We know there’s a lot of excitement about the potential for a red kiwifruit, the fruit itself brings some pretty distinct characteristics that many of our consumers won’t have experienced before,” Zespri Cultivar Innovation Manager Bryan Parkes says.

The fruit’s recommended retail price is NZ$7 (US$4.79) per kg.

Meanwhile, food and beverage manufacturers are exploring flavor innovation with kiwi fruit. In December 2018, Megan Byrnes, Marketing Representative at Gold Coast Ingredients, predicted kiwi flavor combinations will make a strong appearance through 2019. 

“We have seen an increase in demand for kiwi flavors mixed with other fruit flavors in the beverage and dairy industries. In addition to the infamous strawberry kiwi duo, we anticipate in 2019 the market will see more kiwi fruit pairings such as kiwi pear, kiwi watermelon, kiwi lime, kiwi cucumber, berry kiwi and kiwi melon,” she claims.