The reason your stone fruit might taste different each time

Mr Size was tackling an issue still very prevalent today - consumers viewing stone fruit as an inconsistent product, with different sizes, flavours, textures and sweetness.

Now working as a horticultural trainer for an industry-led Registered Training Association, Mr Size, Loxton, SA, said his research focused on evaluation of stone fruit and measurement of flavour.

"We looked at some marketing perspectives on different flavour profiles of stone fruit and how that affected consumer buying power and buying preferencing," he said.

"Most of my work has always been the evaluation space, understanding new varieties."

In the last decade Mr Size has worked with other smaller crops and varieties, and is about to begin work for an almond orchard where his knowledge of varietal importance can be utilised. "The almond basically is a peach or an apricot, so it is a very good crossover in terms of how I continue my career," he said.

Mr Size said the stone fruit industry was facing the same challenges as any other, but flavour and product consistency was key to future success. "We have three distinct segments of our stone fruit category - we have what we call sub-acid, low acid and traditional or classic," he said.

"A lot of the - for want of a better word - older generation grew up with a traditional stone fruit, it was juicy and had a decent amount of tang but it had some sugars there as well. It was juicy, so it dripped and it was an eating experience.

"A lot of the varieties that we grow now are generally grown to be sold still quite firm, not as juicy, with more of a crunch factor.

"Because of that, they do not necessarily have that tang, they can have a lot less acid so it's a very much different eating experience."

But it was not only flavours being grown which was creating consumer frustration, but how the fruit was sold in supermarkets.

For example, all yellow nectarines are sold as yellow nectarines - despite the potential for there to be more than one variety on the shelf together, with vastly different flavours.

"The older-type person who grew up with a tangy, juicy peach goes in there and all they've got is hard, crunchy ones and they're not going to be happy," he said.

"Take that versus apples, where you know if I'm going to buy a Gala or a Fuji or a Pink Lady, I know what it's going to taste like.

"You don't get that a lot of times with stone fruit which causes a lot of dissatisfaction from a consumer point of view."

Mr Size said unfortunately not a lot of progress had been made in the flavour profiling since his research was completed.

Going forward, he said the industry needs to work towards having greater quality specifications.

"Basically what a lot of growers and businesses always argue for is improving quality outcomes, maybe having higher minimum specifications for the fruit that's sold and that will get away from that bad taste in the consumer's mouth," he said.

"If you've got a higher specification that is been adhered to by the retailers then the stone fruit industry has a much better ability to be able to move fruit and have more of a profitable margin in the shop and back to the grower as well.

"We know that supermarkets don't make much money out of the stone fruit category, purely because they lose customers when they put a poor eating experience piece of fruit on the shelf."

Mr Size sits on the board of Summerfruit Australia Limited and said the national peak body has representatives from all over Australia.

"It's a conversation every time we meet, about how we actually improve the consumer eating experience but also reducing our cost of production," he said.

In the future, Mr Size said he would like to see the industry be more profitable.

"I'd like to see newer players entering the market with a lot of support from not only the industry players, but also the supermarkets," he said.

"We need a rejuvenated industry to make sure we're getting repeat sales and it stays viable for the future."