WENATCHEE, Wash. – Stemilt’s proprietary variety, the Piñata® apple, found the spotlight this month through popular online food media outlets, So Yummy and Serious Eats. The flavorful tropical apple with culinary qualities was featured in two recipe videos, including one with an everyday apple hack. The Piñata® videos will reach more than a million food-minded consumers via these popular channels leading up to Cinco de Mayo holiday, a big promotion time for the Stemilt signature fruit.
“We’re excited to partner with these leading food channels to amplify the retail activity on Piñata® apples now and into the Cinco de Mayo holiday. Piñata® is an heirloom cross with a balanced sweet, tart, and slightly tropical flavor profile and flesh that can handle cooking temperatures, making it a culinary standout,” said Brianna Shales, Stemilt communications manager.
Stemilt’s Serious Eats partnership began in March and helped food enthusiasts kick off spring with anInstant Pot pulled pork taco and apple slaw recipe. The Instant Pot is one of the most sought-after small kitchen appliances today. In fact, NPR reported that on Amazon’s 2015 Prime Day, more than 24,000 units were sold and it jumped to 215,000 the following year, before selling out. In 2017, it was among the top five sellers on Amazon’s Black Friday list.
So Yummy is currently sharing a video of their Piñata® Apple Upside Down Breakfast Cookies with its 17 million plus Facebook followers.
Both Serious Eats and So Yummy are online food media outlets that feature recipes that can be crafted in the home, which makes their creations with the versatile Pinata® all the more exciting for Stemilt.
“So Yummy and Serious Eats each come with their own style, and both provide a fun and sharable end result that will help drive shoppers to seek Piñata® apples out at grocery stores,” states Shales. “Each of these outlets reach an audience that we know will love Pinata®. They both have high fan engagement making them influential in the culinary world. This allows us to reinforce Piñata® as an apple to enjoy and also tap into an audience that might not have had the chance to know what Piñata® is.”
Stemilt is not new to the influencer game, having tapped into popular food bloggers for years for brands and proprietary varietals like Lil Snappers® kid-size fruit, Rave™ apples, and Skylar Rae® cherries.
“Intent marketing and tapping into the power of influencers has proven to be an effective way to build brand awareness, whether it’s during a seasonal push like Cinco de Mayo for Pinata® apples or throughout the year for a brand like Lil Snappers®,” said Shales.
The Piñata® brand apple was introduced to U.S. markets in 2008 when Stemilt’s founding family, the Mathison’s, purchased the North American rights to grow and market the fruit in 2004. A cross between three heirloom varieties – the Golden Delicious, Cox’s Orange Pippin and Duchess of Oldenburg – the variety has a lot to offer apple lovers everywhere. The red-yellow apple comes with a classic apple profile with a bit of a tropical twist at the end. The flesh is crisp and juicy making it the ideal apple for heated culinary dishes.
“The flavor profile and build of Piñata® will do well in any sort of heated application, making it a great apple to use for the upcoming Cinco de Mayo holiday,” states Shales. “The tropical twist is a great lead in for any retailer to promote the festive holiday on May 5.”
Piñata® is now available year round. Please contact your Stemilt representative for more information.
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About Stemilt
Stemilt Growers is a leading tree fruit growing, packing and shipping company based in Wenatchee, Washington. Owned and operated by the Mathison family, Stemilt is the leading shipper of sweet cherries and one of the nation’s largest suppliers of organic tree fruits. Stemilt has also demonstrated a commitment to sustainable agriculture and social responsibility since 1989, when founder Tom Mathison launched the company’s Responsible Choice program. For more information about Stemilt, visitwww.stemilt.com and follow Stemilt on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and You Tube.
Source: Stemilt Growers
