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Ontario’s newest apple, the Red Prince, has traveled all the way from Holland to grocery stores across Ontario to fight foreign imports.
After nine years of cross-breeding between Golden Delicious and Jonathan apples, Ontario’s Red Prince was born.
The Red Prince apple is a cross-breed of the Golden Delicious and Joathan apples. [Photo: Amy Snow]
After hearing about the success of the Red Prince in Europe, Irma Botden told TheDailyPlanet.com, she purchased the rights to grow the hybrid apple trees in Canada and began planting them in 2001.
Botden said it wasn’t an overnight success.
It took some time toiling in the fields of their newly acquired orchard in Thornberry, Ont. before the Red Prince had its bright red colour and distinctive crunch, she said.
“It’s an apple that gets better over time, so we can bring it out from February to the beginning of the summer.”
Botden said one of the things that attracted her and her husband, Marius, to the Red Prince was its ability to grow and thrive in Canadian winter weather.
“There are not too many Ontario apples in the store right now, what you see is mostly import apples and we want to reduce that.”
The Botden’s are co-owners of Global Fruit, a company created in 1998 after the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Apple Commission realized that the industry in Ontario was suffering.
The Red Prince apple is taking a bite into the Ontario apple industry. [Photo: Amy Snow]
Kevin Martins works in the family business at Martins Family Fruit Farm, where Ontario apples are packaged and marketed.
Martins told TheDailyPlanet.com that he has watched the Ontario apple industry grow.
“In the Ontario apple industry, there was a lack of re-planting new orchards for a time, back ten years ago and so what’s changed now, is that some new varieties have come on the scene, including the Red Prince,” he said. “It has rejuvinated the industry in Ontario.”
Martins explained why the Red Prince attained quick acceptance.
“It’s harvested in the fall, and has great characteristics so that it can store well,” he said.
Martins continued, “There is a hope that it becomes the most popular. It’s not there yet, in terms of replacing some old favorites, but it certainly has the potential because it has some really great characteristics that consumers want, like unique flavor and crispiness.”
The Red Prince has its own Twitter account, @redprinceapple, with 256 followers.
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