New super pineapple debuts on Australian market

Updated September 7, 2010 08:28:34

It has taken years, but finally Australia has a pineapple it can call its own - and with twice the vitamin C as regular varieties.

Up until now the pineapples Australians have eaten have been derived from those brought in from overseas.

But now Australian scientists have bred a variety which they call the Australian Jubilee.

Presenter: Bronwyn Herbert
Speaker: Garth Sanewski, horticulturalist with the Queensland Department of Innovation; Tim Mulherin, Queensland Minister for Primary Industries; Chris Doyle, Gympie pineapple farmer

HERBERT: Queensland might claim to be home of the Big Pineapple, but up until now what we've been eating are imported varieties. Now, 15 years of plant breeding to develop Australia's first home grown pineapple has proven fruitful.

SANEWSKI: We've used conventional cross pollination, so this is just producing new varieties through seed. So we use pollen from one variety and fertilise another variety, plant those out and pick out the best of those. No genetic modification whatsoever.

HERBERT: Garth Sanewski is a horticulturalist with the Queensland Department of Innovation and led the project.

SANEWSKI: I must have tasted tens of thousands of pineapples before we eventually selected the ones we have right now.

HERBERT: So those taste buds are highly refined?

SANEWSKI: Highly refined and a little bit jaded at times!

HERBERT: The new variety is known as Australian Jubilee. Its creators say it not only looks and tastes better, but that it has a higher concentration of Vitamin C.

SANEWSKI: It's about 25mg per 100ml of juice, a bit less than orange juice but double that of normal processed pineapple.

HERBERT: The pineapple industry is worth 70 million dollars a year to the Queensland economy.

The Queensland Minister for Primary Industries Tim Mulherin says today's commercial launch marks a new future for the fruit,

MULHERIN: The origins of the pineapple go back to Christopher Columbus went to the Americas and came back with the pineapple and its spread through Spain, the Philippines, and it went into Hawaii. The Queensland industry has relied on Hawaiian bred varieties, but this variety has been bred for Queensland conditions and it's truly our first ever born and bred pineapple.

HERBERT: Gympie pineapple farmer Chris Doyle says public tastings of the new fruit have already proven positive,

DOYLE: I've just come back from the Brisbane Royal Show and over ten days we gave out 10 tonne of pineapple to the people. They just said 'where can we get this variety?' They were so impressed with the winter sweet ones. Once you've eaten one you won't go back to a normal pineapple.

HERBERT: Is that right?

DOYLE: Uh hum.

HERBERT: The seasonal fruit will be available in supermarkets from now until November.