North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>]

Title: Profits blossoming from flat peaches

Posted on Fri, Jul. 30, 2004
(from a Columbia, S.C., newspaper)
Profits blossoming from flat peaches

By DAN LEWERENZ

The Associated Press

BIGLERVILLE, Pa. — Some people who grew up on big, round peaches are developing a taste for a variety that looks like it’s been squashed by a dictionary.

Saturn peaches — small, flat versions of the summer staple — are just starting to catch on, and the fruit stands and grocers that carry the variety are having trouble keeping them in stock.

“That’s one of the good things about them, is that they sell so quickly. You never have to worry about storing them,” said Kay Hollabaugh of Hollabaugh Bros. Fruit Farm and Market in Pennsylvania. “They really sell themselves because they’re so unique.”

Frieda’s, a California-based specialty fruit company often credited with introducing Americans to kiwi fruit, also might get credit for popularizing flat peaches. They first rolled out Donut peaches in the mid-1980s and now provide them to supermarkets across the country.

“There’s a huge market for smaller, cute things — you can pack it in a school lunch and all that,” said Tristan Millar, marketing and product development director for Frieda’s. “They are smaller, and so that does appeal for children. And they deliver on taste — they absolutely deliver on taste.”

In part, that’s because the flat peaches currently on the market — specific varieties include the Donut, Saturn, Jupiter and Galaxy — are all white peaches, with a softer flesh, less acid and more sugar than traditional yellow peaches. That gives them a sweeter, more delicate flavor than the bolder, more acidic yellow peaches.

Flat peaches are also popular with growers for another reason — their premium prices. A quart of Saturns at Hollabaugh Bros. costs $5.50, compared with $3.50 for round peaches.