PRESS RELEASE

KELOWNA, BC – Ambrosia apple harvest is well underway in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley and BC Tree Fruits Cooperative (BCTF) is excited about the season to come for the homegrown premium variety. BCTF is estimating an Ambrosia crop of over 650,000 cartons for 2018, up over 20% from last year. Ambrosia apples were discovered as a chance seedling in Cawston, British Columbia, Canada in the early 1990s and continue to gain in popularity worldwide with both retailers and consumers.

After re-branding the popular variety last year and launching it at the PMA Fresh Summit in New Orleans, BCTF followed up the launch with a solid first year under the new brand. The variety continues to be one of the top selling premium varieties in the United States, ranking third year to date in 2018.

“We had an excellent spring and summer weather wise here in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia which has resulted in the variety sizing up nicely with some beautiful color,” says BCTF Marketing Manager Chris Pollock. “Our growers are excited about the season to come for this consumer favorite as we feel that our Ambrosia apples, which come from the birthplace of the variety, provide consumers with exceptional eating experiences and this year will be no different.”

Ambrosia apples have a unique bi-color appearance which provides a beautiful color break at retail while the honey-like flavor has consumers continuing to come back for more. To help promote the variety, BCTF has various display materials available with the re-branded look accompanied by the tag line “Sweet Perfection”. These materials include the shipping outer, display bins, header cards, recipe cards and more. Also seen on all elements will be a short story on the variety and a description of the unique flavor profile.

BCTF Ambrosia apples are available now through the spring 2019. Stop by the Oppy booth (#2643) at the PMA Fresh Summit in Orlando this week. Oppy is the largest marketer of BC grown Ambrosia in the U.S.