By Alannah James
It may be smaller than average, but it’s quickly becoming the apple of many local eyes in the Adelaide Hills.
The purposely-bred Rockit mini apple is sweet and crisp and targeted at the ‘grab n go’ consumer market.
After travelling with a group from the Lenswood Cooperative to New Zealand to see the Rockit variety orchards, fourth generation apple grower, Joel Brockhoff from Otherwood Orchards in Lenswood, saw an opportunity to be part of the “innovation” of apple growing in South Australia.
Joel Brockhoff, pictured with his family, planted his first Rockit orchards in early 2014
When he returned, Joel planted his first lot of Rockit orchards in early 2014. The variety now equates to 20 per cent of his total crops and covers three hectares.
“It seemed clear after going to New Zealand that this new variety was very reasonable to grow,” Joel says.
“We were given a strong idea of what our return would be and this helped in our decision to grow it,” he adds.
More than 70 per cent of Rockit apples are grown in South Australia, with 24 growers based in the Adelaide Hills under the Lenswood Cooperative and another 10 growers elsewhere in the State.
Joel’s Rockit variety equates to 20 per cent of his total crops and covers three hectares
Rockit apples are packaged exclusively in a range of handy tubes allowing consumers to eat the apples straight away without needing to wash them.
Joel says while more labour is required when packaging Rockit apples, they still receive a better return compared to the other six varieties – Pink Lady, Fuji, Granny Smith, Sundowner, Golden Delicious, and Royal Gala.
“We get about 15 per cent of the retail price, so that’s a lot better than other varieties,” he says.
Rockit apples are packaged in tubes and do not need to be washed
What excites Joel most about Rockit is it has completely invigorated the apple consumer industry.
“I think consumers were getting a bit bored with the traditional apple varieties – it’s nice to see some innovation and it has got people talking about and eating apples again,” he says.
“They’re a lot nicer to eat – they have a great shelf life and don’t go soft like Royal Galas do. They’re also more likely to be eaten by kids as they are sweet, have a good consistency and a smaller core.”
He believes Rockit brings hope to future growers who may be thinking the industry is not viable.
“It provides a future for apple growing in the Adelaide Hills. This is something that kids growing up can be optimistic about and encourage them to get into the apple business.”
Adelaide Hills locals are loving Rockit apples
Julian Carbone, from Lenswood Cooperative, says the new apple variety, which is being marketed in Australia by Next Fruit Generation Australia, received an overwhelmingly positive response at the official launch at Tasting Australia in May this year.
“We received a huge thumbs up from consumers who tried them,” Julian says.
“The 2016 exporting program will see Rockit exported out of Australia for the first time ever, and these will be exported to South East Asia…. based on last year’s figures, the 2016 exporting program will see exports increase by 20 per cent,” he adds.