Which apples do the consumers require?

The survey at hand on new apple varieties and the survey on consumer habits were conducted in 2005 at the BEA 05 in Berne and in 2006 at the Migros in Wädenswil. The investigation was part of the EU project HIDRAS, which is concerned with the development of high-quality disease resistant apple varieties for a sustainable agriculture. An aspect of particular interest in the tests was a comparison of the flavour and the external attractiveness of disease-resistant varieties with standard commercial and new varieties. The non scab-resistant varieties Diwa® and Mairac® had the best eating quality. The best of the scab-resistant varieties was Ariane. It was rated as the best looking variety. While rated as attractive, the commercial variety Royal Gala fared less well in terms of taste. Apples are a cherished snack for or between meals and should ideally be flavourful and juicy. The older the participants of the survey were, the more they tended to prefer apples over other fruits. However, the apple was still the most popular of the five fruits presented for all age groups.