The quest for new flavours can take us down some very exciting paths at times, and every now and then we come across a real gem of a discovery. Cotton Candy® has just arrived in the UK. It’s a grape that really and truly tastes of candy floss!
The team at Mack Grapes has been spending a lot of time in California, working with some of the best variety breeders and growers in the world. Cotton Candy® is newly available from Grapery™, with Mack Multiples bringing it exclusively to the UK.
Cotton Candy® breeder, Dr David Cain, is the world-renowned grape breeding specialist and founder of International Fruit Genetics (IFG) in Delano, California. His tireless work in the laboratory and in the field has seen over 75,000 different grape seedlings grown since IFG’s inception in 2001. From these trials, very few grapes make it through to commercial reality – finding varieties that meet his exacting criteria is a long process. Cotton Candy® is therefore very special indeed, resulting from a cross-pollination of parent material from IFG’s own varieties and those obtained from the University of Arkansas through an exclusive contract. At the heart of Cotton Candy® is a Lambrusca variety, offering a distinctive but extremely sweet flavour experience, and drawing from much of the current understanding about breeding grapes for wine.
This precious new variety was then given to the expert growers at Grapery™ to ensure the field trials stood the greatest chance of success. Jim Beagle, president at Grapery™ explains, “Our development work is focused totally on growing grapes for flavour. Our Cotton Candy® tastes truly unique, and is a very exciting variety for us. We’ll be making a significant expansion in its planted volumes over the next few years to ensure we can meet the growing demand for its supply.”
Dan Crooks is commercial director at Mack Multiples for grapes. He believes Cotton Candy® to be a significant new development for the UK market. “Table grape varieties are always in development, but finding something really special and different is rare. We’re looking for long-term innovation, not short-term novelty, and whilst this grape is undoubtedly going to cause a stir due to its very distinctive candy floss flavour, we hope it will ultimately become a regular fixture on shelf. We’re looking at long term plans to access this variety in greater volumes, not just from our friends and colleagues in California but also from other partners around the world.”
Along with the first Cotton Candy® shipment, Grapery™ have included some tantalising samples of other innovations in the pipeline which they’re looking to increase to commercial production levels. Very exciting is a new grape variety with an eye-catching berry shape, currently known as Witches Fingers. Mack Multiples will be following the progress of all these innovations closely for our customers, testing demand with our customers and bringing these varieties through to retail shelves in more exclusive supply agreements from this fruitful Californian relationship.
Enquiries: For further information from Mack Multiples, contact Judy Whittaker, Communications Manager for Fresca Group. T: 01892 831280 / judy.whittaker@frescagroup.co.uk
www.frescagroup.co.uk
Source: Mack Mulitples
