'Kissabel®' is returning to Northern Hemisphere produce aisles with a fresh season of colored-flesh apples, offering younger buyers a pink-to-deep-red interior that stands out before the bite. The selling window began in early September in markets and, depending on the country, can continue into January. The season also starts with Jeremy Linsell taking over as Programme Manager for the IFORED-backed brand.
In the UK, Worldwide Fruit carries 'Rouge,' 'Jaune' and 'Orange' through December, while Next Big Thing plans a U.S. run from mid- to late September into November for Rouge and Jaune. France is centered on Jaune, with smaller Rouge volumes, and Germany stays Rouge-only from Halloween to Christmas.
UK availability through December and Germany's Halloween timing turn the apples into a merchandising event instead of a routine apple slot. The colored flesh widens recipe, display and sharing options for retailers because the inside of the fruit does part of the selling.
Image Credit: Kissabel
What's Driving This Trend
- Color-reveal Produce
- Vivid interiors create shelf differentiation after cutting, giving fresh fruit brands new storytelling value across recipes, sampling, and social sharing.
- Seasonal Produce Merchandising
- Limited selling windows transform everyday grocery items into event-driven purchases, expanding opportunities for timed displays tied to holidays and regional calendars.
- Youth-oriented Fruit Branding
- Visually surprising varieties align with younger shoppers' interest in novelty, making produce more compatible with digital discovery and impulse buying.
Who This Affects Most
- Fresh Produce
- Specialty apple varieties with distinctive flesh colors signal room for premiumization beyond flavor, shape, or origin in crowded fruit categories.
- Grocery Retail
- Retailers gain new merchandising flexibility when the product's interior becomes a visual selling feature for demos, displays, and cross-category recipe promotion.
- Agricultural Breeding
- Consumer-facing traits such as color and seasonality highlight the commercial potential of breeding programs designed around experience as much as yield or storage.
