A Fuyu to the Rescue : Exotic Fruit’s Exposure Whets Appetite, Boosts Magazine

Dick Whitmer had a problem that he solved with a fuyu.

It seems that none of the nation’s corporate giants knew about his publication, California Grower Magazine, and cared less.

Enter the fuyu, an exotic Japanese persimmon, coveted by Asians for its delicate flavor and its golden orange color.

Whitmer sent packages of the tasty fruit, along with napkins, plates and plastic knives and forks. Then he waited for the response.

“It was great,” the magazine’s marketing director said. “I got their attention.”

His advertising linage multiplied.

The Fallbrook publication has teamed with an Escondido packing house, Henry Avocado Packing Corp., to run the attention-getting campaign that features seasonal exotic fruits--kiwis, fuyus, pomelos, etc.--and the response has doubled and trebled advertising revenue for the magazine. It also has brought a surge of interest in the Asian fruit across the country.

The magazine circulates to about 7,300 subscribers throughout the Southwest, carrying information on topics of interest to growers.

Irv Bernsen, a specialty grower and partner in the Henry packing firm, has been watching the rise of exotic fruit growing in this country and thinks he knows the reason.

An influx of Asians into the United States brought a ready-made market for the fuyu, pomelo and other Asiatic delicacies, and the trend toward health food by U.S. natives has compounded the popularity of the unusual fruits.

Fuyus, which Bernsen raises on a 13-acre tract of his Valley Center acreage, look like off-color tomatoes and have a taste somewhere between a persimmon and an apple. Better yet, fuyus don’t pucker the mouth as not-ripe-enough persimmons are wont to do.

“It doesn’t bite back,” Bernsen explained. “It is a puckerless persimmon.”

About 100 small growers send their fuyu fruit to Henry Packing for marketing throughout the country. This past season, which is winding up now, the specialty division sent more than a million pounds of the golden orange fruit to wholesalers and specialty retailers across the nation, Bernsen said.

Next up, Whitmer plans to draw corporate officials’ attention to his magazine by sending out pomelos--Chinese grapefruit. The large melons require peeling and removal of the white rind before the edible portion is reached, Whitmer said, “but the taste is worth it.”

Bernsen, who is just stepping into the pomelo market, said that increasing numbers of Southern California growers are branching out into the exotic fruits because, “when avocados are selling for 17 cents a pound, fuyus are selling for up to 75 cents to a dollar a pound.”

Pomelos, at their peak, bring more than $10 each--an incentive for any grower, he said. Its lime-like taste is catching on and Bernsen wouldn’t be surprised if, in coming years, the pomelo took its place next to guava and papaya in supermarket produce departments.

Bernsen, with the help of his wife, has produced a number of fuyu recipes for the adventurous. The possibilities range from fuyu bread and muffins to fuyu milk shake and fuyu-apple chutney. For the gourmet, there is a recipe for spiced poached crisp fuyus which combines fuyu wedges with orange juice, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, golden raisins, grated orange and lemon peel and bits of green cherries.

Whitmer insulted some fuyu purists by sending out packets of the exotic fruit along with bottles of spicy salad dressing. The true fuyu-lover likes them fresh.

Both men agree that they’ve hit on a winning formula that is bringing success to both the California Grower and the fuyu.