The 2023 passionfruit crop has survived the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle and is arriving in stores with the country’s small team of commercial growers based in sub-tropical areas such as Northland, the Bay of Plenty and Taranaki pleased to deliver these tasty seasonal delights to consumers.
According to Debbie Baxter, President of the New Zealand Passionfruit Growers Association, this season has been a particularly challenging one for growers: “Like many other growers, we faced difficult weather conditions throughout the season. Many of our growers were affected by the severe frost in October and the vines have taken some time to bounce back from that. While we haven’t lost a large amount of fruit, the lack of sunshine hours this summer has delayed production by as much as four weeks in certain areas.”
Source: 5aday.co.nz