Consumers urged to keep buying Adelaide Hills apples and pears despite damage from October hailstorm

KEEP buying Adelaide Hills apples and pears, even if they look less than perfect on the outside. That’s the message from Adelaide Central Market retailers on Friday.

• Campaign launched to encourage consumers to eat hailstorm-damaged fruit and support SA farmers
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ADELAIDE Central Market fruit and vegetable retailers say it’s too early to tell whether consumers are being put off buying “hailstorm” apples and pears from the Adelaide Hills - but believe some customers will be turned off by the imperfect fruit.

This morning, retailers urged people to purchase the damaged fruit - which hit the shelves this week - and say the taste is not affected.

Market prices for the fruit varies from as low as $1.99/kg to about $5.99/kg, depending on quality, size and the severity of the damage.

Consumers can expect to see the damaged locally grown apples and pears on shop shelves for up to a year, with growers picking the new season fruit over the next month.

Damaged locally grown pears and apples being sold at the Adelaide Central Market. Picture: Katrina Stokes.

The hail damage to the fruit varies, with some fruit badly damaged and others less so. Picture: Katrina Stokes.

The fruit damage was sustained after a severe hailstorm in October affected much of the state’s 60 pear and apple growers. They now face losses of $32 million in sales.

McMahon’s Fruit and Veg owner Stephan McMahon said his Adelaide Hills apples and pears were not being sold at a discounted rate, because the price was the grower’s “livelihood”.

“Hail doesn’t do damage to the taste (but) some have been damaged pretty badly,” he said.

Mr McMahon said he was expecting some complaints about the fruit aesthetics but urged people to buy it.

“It’s like everything, consumers will get used to it,” he said.

There are tiny imperfections on these apples grown in the Adelaide Hills, sustained in a severe hailstorm late last year. Picture: Katrina Stokes.

Cactus Quality Fruit & Veg owner Simon Pessios agreed.

“(The fruit) is still very sweet - it’s just blemishes in the skin,” he said.

“Support our local growers - this (the damage) is just mother nature.”

Owner of Michael’s Fruit and Veg, Michael Kotsanis, urged consumers “not to be picky”.

“The fruit is nice, hard, crispy and juicy,” he said.

Mr Kotsanis said Packham pears, grown in Coromandel Valley, were “one of the best pears around at the moment”.

“They’re really nice and sweet,” he said.

A new campaign, Hailstorm Heroes, delivered by Hort Innovation, with help from PIRSA and Brand SA, was launched this week urging consumers to buy the damaged fruit and support local farmers.

The dots on these Adelaide Hills apples were sustained from a severe hailstorm in October last year. Picture: Katrina Stokes.