According to Norfolk-based Global Plant Genetics, ‘The blackberry market is moving towards sweet eating varieties. With the consumer wanting more sweet blackberries on the market, the pressure on good varieties that produce superb blackberries with a low acidity level is rising.’
The firm’s Marieke Gortemaker points out that, “Sweet blackberries as a category didn’t really exist a few years ago, but with the careful breeding of blackberries in recent years, the fruits being bought in supermarkets are usually bigger, juicier and sweeter.” According to British Summer Fruits, an estimated 25.5 million punnets were sold last year in the UK alone, an eight per cent uplift on 2020.
One recent introduction is the variety Von, from North Carolina State University. “The eating experience is superlative and this is borne out of several factors: a high level of soluble solids that provide a sweet flavour, low acids that reduce the berry’s astringency and uniquely, very small seeds that provide a texture and mouth-feel that are extremely unusual in blackberries,” says Marieke.
“Von offers both growers and fruit marketers a number of advantages. Overall, it provides an excellent combination of fruit quality and exceptional productivity. Von is the result of many years of breeding and is a complex cross of a range of genetics that, all put together, have produced this leading blackberry cultivar. The fruit quality of Von really sets it apart from many varieties currently in the market place.”
