Smitten™, an exclusive variety of apple, created in New Zealand, first hit the UK supermarket shelves in 2011 – and so a love affair was started.
The Smitten™ brand apple results from the unique mix of the Royal Gala, Braeburn, Falstaff and Fiesta breeding lines. The result – a deliciously sweet apple with a superior bite sensation, combined with firmness, full flavour and juiciness. No wonder it goes by the tagline “once bitten, forever smitten.”
Smitten™ is the result of a long search for the best in class eating apple. It began in New Zealand in 2005 with a breeding programme established by leading plant variety researchers at New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research in conjunction with Prevar™, an international joint venture company established to develop and globally commercialise new apple and pear varieties and products.
Morrisons sell Smitten™ under a 100% exclusive agreement with the apples available in selected stores throughout May and June. This year, they have ordered 200 tonnes of apples which is double the volume in 2012.
Brendon Osborn, General Manager of Heartland Fruit NZ Ltd owned by four grower/orchards, all located in the Nelson region of New Zealand and supplying the best of New Zealand apples to the world) says: “New Zealand has been marketing Smitten commercially for 3 years now, and reaction from customers around the world has been overwhelmingly positive with regard to the flavour and keeping quality of the fruit. It is proving to be a winner in all markets.”
Currently, commercial quantities of the apple are only available from New Zealand; however the variety is currently being grown in the UK on a small scale but with the potential to ramp up production in the near future. Trial plantings of the variety have also occurred in the US, Italy and Australia.
For your own bite of the delicious limited edition Smitten™ apple, visit selected Morrisons stores now.
Smitten™
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