The liquidiser revolution is changing what consumers eat: sales of blueberries and raspberries are soaring as health-conscious shoppers embrace smoothies as a short cut to consuming one of their five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
Demand for blueberries is up by nearly a third this year, while raspberry sales are ahead by 20%. Their popularity has been supported by the engineering of robust new varieties that survive the trip from field to fridge in a better condition.
Laurence Olins, of growers’ trade body British Summer Fruits, said: “Berries used to be a luxury item, like strawberries and cream and Wimbledon. Now they are are omnipotent.” The organisation calculates that sales of British strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries will top £1bn this year, compared with about £300m in 2004.
Sales of strawberries are up by just 0.6% year on year, according to data from research firm Kantar Worldpanel, although some British farmers say sales of UK breeds are up by 20% after a good summer crop.
British farmers are expected to produce 14,000 tonnes of raspberries this year compared with less than 12,000 tonnes last year, according to British Summer Fruits. New varieties give better yields – by as much as 50% compared with a few years ago – and farmers are expanding the amount of land they devote to the fruit. Another reason for the rise in UK production is the wider deployment of equipment such as polytunnels.
Farmers are particularly keen to plant more raspberries, according to Olins, as the newest varieties produce greater yield, and high-quality berries. Raspberry varieties such as the berry jewel and Driscoll’s maravilla are also bigger and sweeter. Tesco has claimed that the berry jewel, bred by a Kent-based grower, had helped increase demand for raspberries by 45% this year.
