Never underestimate a sweet tooth.
Two Saskatchewan fruit growers have successfully marketed ice cream and chocolates using their orchard products as a base.
Wayne Pearson, who has an orchard near Vanscoy, and Dean Kreutzer, who grows fruit in the Lumsden area, told their fellow fruit growers in the province how their operations work during Crop Production Week in Saskatoon.
Both noted that many people are unaware of the types of fruit that can be grown in a cold province such as Saskatchewan. While berry crops are common, few consumers are aware that producers are raising fruit such as sour cherries, apples and apricots.
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Pearson and his wife Clare have 10 acres of cherries and grow eight varieties of apples and three types of plums as well as the usual strawberries, raspberries, chokecherries and rhubarb. They will be adding haskamp, a blue honeysuckle, to their orchard this spring.
The Pearsons sell their fruit in 20 pound boxes to retail customers and at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, but it is a new value-added business that has them excited. A casual encounter with a friend who was making ice cream for a Saskatoon store led them to develop their own fruit-flavoured ice cream in her federally inspected kitchen. They have 12 flavours under their Prairie Sun label, including sour cherry swirl and raspberry cheesecake, and plan to soon add a blue honeysuckle flavour.
Sales have been better than expected, Pearson said. The couple has also donated ice cream to charity and curling events and sold it at a giant neighbourhood garage sale. This brings their product in front of more people and has led to more demand. Sales are strong even in the fall and up to Christmas.
Pearson said the most important part of their marketing was having access to Saskatoon’s population. He also credited their success to a positive attitude and working hard.
For Dean and Sylvia Kreutzer, who left Regina to start Over the Hill Orchard, success came by branding their Carmine Jewel fruit as the prairie cherry to differentiate it from sweet cherries grown in British Columbia.
When they started in 2000 they decided to be fruit processors rather than U-pick operators.
They are certified organic and hope that will open more doors for them, especially once they get their products certified organic.
Right now they market their cherries as juice, ice cream topping, dried fruit, chocolates and pies. Their first harvest in 2003 filled one ice cream pail but this year they have contracted with five other organic fruit growers to produce their products.
They sell their frozen products wholesale but also have a store and coffee shop in Lumsden to catch the retail trade. They also plan to attend the world’s largest organic food trade show held each year in Germany.
Their best public relations coup was getting the Queen to eat one of their prairie cherry chocolates when she was in the province.
Kreutzer said they are ripping out their Evans cherries in favour of Carmine Jewels because they are hardier and yield a prettier red and better tasting fruit, even after processing.
“Chocolate can look good, but if it tastes like cod liver oil, no one will buy it.”
Kreutzer advised fellow growers to create something special with their product, understand the importance of marketing and be prepared to adjust their business plan when opportunities arise.
