Farmers are modifying their grapes to be so sweet that they can endanger the health of diabetics.
Growers have focused on the ‘quality’ of their fruit – the word they use to describe sweetness, with global warming also being blamed for the more syrupy taste.
The candy-like fruits are bred to taste sweeter, and many are even renamed to resemble a sweet treat.
Cotton Candy Grapes, Gummyberries, Gum Drop Grapes, Pinkglow Pineapple, Sunshine Watermelon, and Rose Strawberries were all grown to deviate from their original flavors.
Diabetics must be careful to limit their consumption of fruits with higher sugar content, such as pineapples. This is because fruit grown sweeter contains fewer phytochemicals — the substance that makes fruit healthy.
The candy-like fruits are bred to taste sweeter, and many are renamed to resemble a sweet treat. Pictured: A hidden rose apple grown to taste like “strawberry lemonade.”
Oishii’s strawberries are so soft they need to be placed in foam packaging to survive and cost a whopping $15 for a tray of 12 berries
Not only humans are affected by the changes in breeding. Melbourne Zoo reported in 2018 that it was forced to stop giving fruit to its animals because it caused tooth decay.
To help them lose weight, the monkeys at the zoo were weaned from bananas and switched to a lower-sugar plant-based diet.
Research from 2010 showed that the sugar content of many fruits is higher than before due to “continuous selection and breeding”.
Most modern apple varieties are, on average, sweeter than wild apples – stripping them of bitterness and acidity.
Studies on wild apples suggest that sugar content varies more between them, with modern supermarket apples showing the same level of sweetness.
However, global warming is partially blamed for the rise in sugar levels. Research has shown that apples become sweeter and softer as temperatures rise.
The Brix scale is used by growers to measure the sugar content of fruit, which refers to the mass fraction of sugar.
Fresh peaches are 9 to 12 degrees Brix, while modern cherries are typically 20 or more Brix.
Cotton Candy Grapes, Gummyberries, Gum Drop Grapes, Pinkglow Pineapple, Sunshine Watermelon, and Rose Strawberries were all grown to deviate from their original flavors
Research from 2010 showed that the sugar content of many fruits is higher than before due to “continuous selection and breeding”. Pictured: A Sunshine watermelon
Not only humans are affected by the changes in breeding. Melbourne Zoo reported in 2018 that it was forced to stop giving fruit to its animals because it caused tooth decay. Pictured: Plums bred to taste like cherries
Peaches are being targeted by plant breeders to propagate higher sugar peach cultivars, led by plant breeder and scientist Marco Cirilli.
He told the Wall Street Journal that the average peach can be improved by letting it sit in a bowl on a sunny windowsill for a few days, and he is part of an Italian project trying to make 25 Brix peaches.
Fruit that stays on the tree longer results in sweeter and fuller-tasting fruit. English apple growers say apple varieties bred for sweetness don’t “fully develop” if picked too early.
Strawberries are also grown with a wide variety of flavors – including one that tastes like a pink starburst and another that has a tropical flavor.
Oishii’s strawberries are so soft they need to be placed in foam packaging to survive and cost a whopping $15 for a tray of 12 berries.
They also measure the Brix level of each berry to ensure it stays the same in every pack.
Del Monte has also created two new pineapple varieties: the honeyglow pineapple, which is picked for a more distinctive flavor, and the pinkglow variety, which is the color of deli ham and retails for $15 each
Only a few fruits are genetically modified – the Pinkglow pineapple has had a gene down-regulated to produce a less yellow pineapple
A set of Driscoll’s Designer Strawberries features Rose Berries, Tropical Bliss, and Sweetest Batch that exude the same flavor as fruit punch.
They’re one of the few companies to do the crossing by hand, and grow over 100,000 strains a year – selecting an “elite parent” to cross-pollinate with another.
Del Monte has also created two new pineapple varieties: the honeyglow pineapple, which is picked for a more distinctive flavor, and the pinkglow variety, which is the color of deli ham and retails for $15 each.
Only a few fruits are genetically modified – the Pinkglow pineapple has had a gene down-regulated to produce a less yellow pineapple.
Baldor Specialty Foods also has a Sunshine Watermelon – with a golden skin and magenta flesh – and the Hidden Rose Apple with pink flesh that tastes like strawberry lemonade.
Phil Stewart, director of strawberry breeding at Dillard, told the New York Times, “As a plant breeder, it’s very satisfying to produce something that people love so much.”
“The world needs alfalfa, but nobody gets excited when you show up at a party with a box of alfalfa, you know?”