New mango varieties grown on a north Queensland farm have been given the taste test for the first time, with retail trials passing the first hurdle. Young trees on farmer Brad Bowen’s orchard at Brandon, 60 kilometers from Townsville were among those to produce their first successful commercial crop.
While the colors of the fruit are more heavily blushed, they strongly resemble the usually yellow-skinned Kensington Pride mango in flavor.
You’ve got the flavor of the KP but you’ve got the beautiful R2E2 flesh: the texture’s fantastic and they just last,” Mr Bowen said. “They tend to be the one I go to when any family and friends come — we always give them one of the new varieties and they say it’s their favorite.”
The mangoes have been sent to various markets where they were evaluated by wholesalers and retailers for flavor, shelf life, popularity and ease of handling.
CEO of Australian Mangoes Robert Gray said the process of entering new fruit into the marketplace was a lengthy one: “We’ve had about 1,000 trays in total this year so it’s still very small numbers. We expect over the next couple of years we’ll be getting a few thousand from each farm across the regions, so we’ll be able to assess them more thoroughly.”
Abc.net.au reports that, with an overheated domestic mango market reducing prices, the industry is aiming at exporting 20 per cent of the crop.
Source: www.abc.net.au
