Berry Scotland Programme Berry Products

Berry Products

Strategic Opportunities for Berries and Berry Product Development.

Presentation by Anne Thomson, MD Ella Drinks, Marketing Consultant Gallagher Associates.

There is a potential for dynamic growth with a widespread interest in the health benefits of berries and opportunities for products in many categories. For example look at the success of the cranberry being linked to health benefits and the importance of brand building.

The raw materials available in Scotland are fresh, frozen, processed, dried and canned fruits, principally strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, brambles and gooseberries.

Fruit is available from a number of groups: Scotfruit, Angus Soft Fruits, Abbey Fruit, Trading Solutions, Saltire Fruits, Blairgowrie Fruit Packers, Highland Berry Growers and Rendalls. Also from individual growers.

Fruit Availability

Arctic raspberry	Aromatic, grows wild. Finns have breeding programme. Interesting flavour.
Aronia	Grown in Eastern Europe and Poland. High anthocyanin content, astringent, used in mixtures with other fruits, also known as chokeberry since grows like a weed. Not many diseases and harvested with blackcurrant or raspberry harvester.
Blackcurrant	SCRI breeding programme, experienced growers, good potential.
Blackthorn/sloe
Blaeberry	(or bilberry) All the vacciniums have potential, harvesting the problem. See Fiona Sinclair Millenium Study
Blueberry	Not so good flavour as blaeberry. A lot of research on health benefits available. There are English growers, likes low pH, not easy to grow well.
Boysenberry	Drought resistant blackberry/raspberry hybrid.
Bramble	(or blackberry) In England mainly, reasonable juice, not long storage. New varieties from SCRI. Likely to overtake all raspberry/blackberry crosses - logan, tay, tummel, boysen berries
Cherry	Experiment with new varieties on dwarf rooting stock underway in Fife. Climate in Scotland not ideal but can grow undercover.
Cloudberry	Raspberry type but different species. Grows wild in Scotland, interesting flavour, low yield. Used to make liqueurs in Scandinavia.
Cranberry	Many documented health benefits. Needs adapted method of growing for small scale. Can be economic, needs someone to run with it.
Damson	Got potential, not grown commercially.
Elderberry	Germany and Eastern Europe. Good cultivars, got potential. Rich red, dark juice, suffers from aphids, harbours viruses, wastage 60%, not lucrative.
Gean/wild cherry	Not grown commercially.
Gooseberry	Low level of production, low value, low vitamin C, poor colour, could source plants easily enough. Dark skinned varieties eg red will have darker colour/higher antioxidants. "Kitchen sink" image, machine harvestable.
Hawthorn	Strong tradition of use in herbal medicine as a heart remedy and rejuvenator. Grows abundantly.
Juniper
Lingonberry	(or cowberry) Common in Sweden and Finland. Never looked at here.
Loganberry	Not grown in Scotland, raspberry type. Originally a bramble/raspberry cross from California.
Mulberry	Tree fruit like big raspberry. Dark fruit, high anthocyanin content, not grown in Scotland.
Raspberry	Scotland's most famous fruit for flavour and aroma with over 2000 tonnes available annually.
Redcurrant	Could be interesting. A few people grow it, machine harvestable, easy to grow. Non-aromatic, colour not stable.
Rosehips
Rowan	Small production near Braemar.
Seabuckthorn	Lot pf substantial claims, natural yellow colour, high in vitamin C, interesting flavour (orange). Difficult to grow commercially. Huge acreage in Russia.
Strawberry	Plenty of production for fresh. Needs a processing market.
Tayberry	High profile via amateur gardeners. Raspberry/bramble cross (as tummelberry). Expensive to pick and not particularly high yielding. Little value for fresh market due to poor shelf life.
Whitecurrant	Mutant form of redcurrant, more aroma.