Article from Specialty Crop Grower
by Clint Thompson
Florida Blueberry Season Means Yummy Fruit for Consumers
Ready to pick your own blueberries or buy them at the grocery
store? Florida’s blueberry season is here, so you’ll likely find a
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
(UF/IFAS) variety near you.
When consumers travel to the
supermarket, they will not find blueberries labeled as UF/IFAS
varieties. Chances are, however, if you are buying Florida-grown
blueberries, you’ll be eating a UF/IFAS-bred cultivar.
UF/IFAS
blueberry breeding research dates back to the 1950s and has a history
of developing good-tasting, disease- and pest-resistant varieties. The
latest cultivars, ‘Sentinel’ and ‘Albus,’ were released in 2020 and
2022, respectively.
“The newest releases – which have been
planted by Florida commercial growers — perform very well, with high
yields and good fruit quality,” said Doug Phillips, UF/IFAS statewide
blueberry Extension coordinator. “In consumer taste panels conducted by
UF/IFAS, all of the most recent UF/IFAS cultivars attained high scores,
including ‘Sentinel,’ ‘Albus,’ ‘Optimus,’ and ‘Colossus.’”
For 13 years, the UF/IFAS blueberry breeding program has operated
consumer taste panels to find the fruit characteristics consumers like
the most.
Scientists obtain the delicious flavor by finding the
right balance of sugars and acids and by selecting for naturally
occurring chemical components of the fruit, said Patricio Muñoz,
endowed chair for the horticulture crop breeding program and UF/IFAS
blueberry breeder.
Importance of Texture to Blueberries
Texture is critical to growers and consumers, addition to taste and yield, Muñoz said.
“Thus,
we have redirected our efforts to develop varieties that have better
texture and, thus, shelf life,” he said. “This way, your fruit won’t go
bad too quickly before you enjoy it at home. Also, we have worked to
develop varieties that taste great.”
There are more cultivars on the way.
Though
not yet available commercially, two new Southern Highbush Blueberry
cultivar releases are scheduled to be available to growers in late 2024
or early 2025 – ‘Falcon’ and ‘FL19-006’, Phillips said. Both produce
high yields, firm jumbo-sized berries and taste great, he said.
Florida
growers produce more than 5,700 acres of blueberries, producing about
20 million pounds per season. The vast majority of blueberry acreage in
Florida is planted with UF/IFAS varieties.
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