FirstFruits Marketing Prepares for a Successful Apple Season with its Unique Varieties

YAKIMA, Wash.; August 4, 2015 - FirstFruits Marketing of Washington (FirstFruits) is preparing for a successful apple season with its unique varieties: Sweetie™ apple, an early Fuji apple and Opal® apple.

FirstFruits represents Broetje Orchards who is at the forefront of bringing new high-demand varieties to market and recently expanded its unique offerings with a planting of Cosmic Crisp, a newly-developed hybrid from Washington State University. One of the current offerings is its proprietary Sweetie apple, which will be in stores in early September. Also known as Gala's sweeter, crunchier cousin, this Braeburn and Royal Gala hybrid is intensely sweet and juicy with a crunchy texture and is available for a limited time only. By mid-September, FirstFruits will also be packing its early Fuji apple, one of the earliest and sweetest Fuji apples of the season, which will be available as organic and conventional.

After a stellar 2014 season of growth and consumer build in purchase, FirstFruits will offer the highly-acclaimed Opal apple to customers beginning in November. This yellow beauty is crunchy and sweet and naturally resists oxidation making it slow to brown. As the exclusive marketer of the prized Opal, FirstFruits will offer Opal as both organic and conventional and expect supplies to last through next March.

"Ralph Broetje of Broetje Orchards is an innovator in the industry and has traveled the world to find the best apple varieties," said Keith Mathews, CEO of FirstFruits Marketing of Washington. "The demand for our unique varieties continues to grow year after year and we're excited to be able to offer them again to our customers."

FirstFruits' unique varieties will be supported at retail with point-of-sale materials, merchandising bins, social media content and produce manager education. In addition, a comprehensive consumer campaign is planned this winter for Opal. For more information, please contact East Coast Regional Marketer Dennis Jackson or West Coast Regional Marketer Tim Corkill. Learn more about FirstFruits at www.firstfruits.com