Despite being more expensive than traditional tomatoes, more and more Polish consumers are reaching for 'Malinowe' raspberry tomatoes. Now available year round in most grocery stores and supermarkets around Poland, the tomatoes are imported from Spain during the winter season when there are less available in Poland.
Due to the increasing demand, Agnieszka Arcimowicz from Targban said that she has witnessed an increase of about 40% in the cultivation of pink tomatoes by Polish growers in the last few years. Approximately 30% of covered cultivation are the raspberry varieties.
"The raspberry tomatoes are considered by many consumers to be the best variety available. That is mainly because of their superior taste, exceptional aroma and beautiful pink color." shared Agnieszka.
However the raspberry varieties do not come without some challenges. The tomatoes have a short storage life of between 5 to 6 days and they can be difficult to grow because the fruit is more susceptible to drying out compared to other varieties.
"During a recent trip I noticed that the raspberry tomatoes took up a large portion of the greenhouses for three out of four of our growers. I think that this just goes to show its growing popularity with customers and growers. An additional two growers had allocated their entire cultivation for the pink tomatoes." Agnieszka exclaimed.
Targban exported red tomatoes, bell peppers and plums to France, Italy, Romania and the UK in 2016 and plans on expanding to The Baltic States, Czech Republic and Serbia during the 2017 season.
