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Jonagold producers want focus on taste, not color
By Steve Sanger
Jonagold may be a difficult apple to handle and market successfully, but its flavor and versatility will result in wide consumer popularity and market success. Those were the dominant ideas presented during the Pacific Northwest Jonagold Conference held at Mount Vernon, Washington, this summer
Philip Schwallier, a horticulturist and marketing agent for Michigan State University's Clarksville experiment station, said Jonagold is the finest commercially-grown apple variety in the world when it is at proper maturity, but it is much more touchy than the hard varieties, and harvest timing is critical. Pick quickly, store quickly, and when the fruit is brought out of CA (controlled atmosphere) storage, sell immediately, he advised. "Ideally, keep the apples refrigerated by all concerned, including the consumer."
Color was discussed, the question being the relative importance of redder Jonagolds and the risk of overmaturity.
Steve Lutz, president of the Washington Apple Commission, said he personally prefers flavor over color. Emphasizing eating quality would be one way to go for Jonagold, but the trend is not in that direction, he said. Retailers are trying to apply the Red Delicious experience to all varieties.
The conference, the first of its kind in the United States, attracted more than 200 people from Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia, the eastern United States, and Europe. It was sponsored by the western Washington apple industry and Washington State University's (WSU) Cooperative Extension Service.
Maturity problem
One program participant, C.S. "Chick" Schindler, president of Peterson Fruit Company in Everett, Washington, a broker and wholesaler, related an incident that highlighted a major Jonagold marketing problem. A large supermarket chain ran into a maturity problem and canceled the rest of its order. "That was probably a loss of 8,000 boxes," Schindler said.
He recommended putting more Jonagolds in CA storage and fewer in regular cold storage, so that an adequate supply of firm fruit can be available all season. "You also need to address the matter of picking earlier with less color to guarantee better maturity conditions through the season," he said.
Lutz commented: "Quality alone won't guarantee success. Consistency is critical. Red Delicious on an eating quality scale is not as good as a Jonagold or a Fuji, but Red Delicious is reasonably consistent. By the year 2000, we expect to be producing 120 million boxes of fresh apples in Washington State, and there won't be room for mediocrity."
Jonagold, Lutz said, amounts to about 1.4 % of retail sales nationally, which is about the same as Jonagold's share of Washington production. Jonagold is a high-priced apple, but retailers make money on it, he said.
Ed Kershaw, whose Yakima, Washington, apple operation grows, packs, and
ships apples, including Jonagold, said not everyone is happy with the variety, including retailers.
Kershaw, a member of the Washington Apple Commission's board, said retailers like Jonagold's size, its distinctive tart-sweet taste, and its versatility as an eating and cooking apple. They don't like its tendency to bruise late season and its lack of consistency. Kershaw was concerned about competition from other new varieties, complicated by increasingly tight space in produce departments and limited consumer awareness.
Shelf space
Kershaw is confident Jonagold will succeed if consumers become familiar with it. "This apple has to be in CA storage, not regular storage, and must be marketed the year around. Otherwise, it won't get shelf space in supermarkets."
Color versus condition and eating quality was a recurring issue. Retailers like color because it attracts buyers, but a Jonagold picked at optimum redness may be mushy by the time it reaches the consumer. Some participants wanted grade and pack standards to emphasize flavor and internal quality over color.
"Color is not the most important aspect," said wholesaler Chick Schindler. "With consistent firmness and less color, we would be better off. Braeburn is ugly but popular. It's bought for flavor and crispness."
"We must set standards," Ed Kershaw added. "We don't want red to be the most important factor."
Rob Valicoff, a grower and packer of Jonagold in the Yakima Valley, suggested the Grade and Pack Committee of the Washington State Horticultural Association take a look at new varieties, including Jonagold, with an emphasis on condition. "But," said Valicoff, "don't criticize the warehouse when it discards 200 boxes of Jonagolds that don't meet new standards."
One aim of Jonagold standards would be to eliminate price differentials based on color.
Jonagold and other newer varieties are not subject to internal pressure standards. Color standards are minimal under U.S. Department of Agriculture rules since Jonagold is not considered a red apple.
Gene Kupferman, a postharvest specialist at the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, pointed out that a sufficient database does not yet exist to set standards for Jonagold. And, for any reference to flavor, a taste panel would have to be involved.
Lutz suggested that since Jonagold is a niche variety, it has the ability to create a standard. "If you are basing a future on taste, why build a standard on color?" he asked.
Valicoff advised common sense for condition standards but added, "At eight or nine pounds, a Jonagold tastes like mush. The optimum is 12 to 13 or higher."
One speaker wondered if some Jonagolds should carry a "melt date" on the variety sticker. Others compared Jonagolds to pumpkins and grapefruit. For sensitivity in handling, the Jonagold was compared to a peach.
Jim Baird, a grower with Jonagold orchards on both sides of Washington's Cascade Mountains, said the variety's greatest problem is softness. "But it's a great apple, and I'm investing in it. A pressure tester is the Jonagold grower's best friend. Carry it in your shirt pocket at harvest, because harvest maturity is the number one issue."
Even though he is planting the redder strains, Baird said he supports taste in the flavor versus color argument.
Alan Merritt, an organizer of the conference, and with his father, Lester, a pioneer grower of Jonagold in northwestern Washington, listed what is needed.
Consistency
"Jonagold is No. 1 in our area, and we have a vested interest in its future. The people in this room have the opportunity to direct this future of growing and marketing. The future will bring competition, and we have to pay more attention to consistency. We've had storage problems and we have to learn that color isn't everything."
More advice came from Bill McPhee, horticultural manager with Okanagan Similkameen Cooperative in British Columbia, Canada. "Jonagold is an apple that sells itself. It is nice, crisp, and tarty. It's great tasting, and we sell on that basis. We consider the Jonagold a yellow apple with a red blush.
"We move out the riskier fruit first and hold the rest for long-term storage. One concern we have is that Washington will overwhelm us with color, and we'll have to change our approach," McPhee said.
He warned "not to get paranoid about red. There is a market for a Jonagold that isn't red."
McPhee said his operation splits the pack into two colors. Some buyers, especially in California, want a lower red. "There is a danger of breeding in color, and breeding out flavor."
Stephen Hoying, area educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension in New York, suggested that all Jonagold growing areas in North America combine to work on the variety's problems and strong points. "There is strength in numbers," he said.
In his closing remarks, Tom Thornton, a grower in Whatcom County, Washington, praised the conference participants and audience for their enthusiasm, but said much research remains to be done. "We must move beyond the educational component. We need a working group to resolve these issues."
Thornton said a meeting would be set up at the Washington State Horticultural Association's convention in Wenatchee in December to begin a full-range approach to workable solutions.