The Science of Sweetness

Since Adam and Eve first debated whether that apple was ready to eat, people have devised lots of ways to choose perfectly ripe fruit. Mostly, they look, sniff and squeeze. We do, too. But then, we test.

Seedling Fruit has developed the The Science of Sweetness^SM to ensure we grow, harvest and deliver the most perfectly ripe, delicious fruit you've ever tasted.

First we need to step back. Developing sweet fruit really begins with the trees. We are lucky in the sense that the previous orchard owners had a similar philosophy to ours there are lots of great varieties planted, focused on deliver great tasting fruit, not just the most popular varieties.

Every season; we fertilize the soil to feed the trees. We heavily trim the branches, which serve a twofold purpose; it allows the tree to put energy into fruit development and allows the sun to shine on the fruit not on the branches. As the fruit develops, we heavily thin the fruit that is we remove at least HALF of all the fruit on the tree (probably 60-70% on peaches!) this allows more energy to go into the existing fruit. Yes, we eliminate competition to pamper our fruit.

The next phase is out of our hands. This is Mother Nature's call! We need rain, we need sun, we need heat not enough rain the tree suffers, too much rain doesn't let the sugar develop. Not enough heat, the fruit doesn't get sweet, too much heat, it develops too early. You get the picture. This is agriculture folks!

Now remember, we are growing for you at the markets, not the grocery store. So we want great tasting, ripe and ready fruit it may not be as beautiful as grocery products, but it's what on the inside that counts. (we don't judge you on your looks!)

There are some rules: Sugar in the fruit only develops on the tree. Fruit never gets sweeter after it's picked (it may taste sweeter, see below, but it does not develop more sugar). So, the longer it stays on the tree, the sweeter it gets. But it's tough; too long and the fruit is too soft to pick. So, it's a balancing act.

Now, we have more control over the next steps:

Look: Before we pick any fruit, you can tell by how it looks if it's close. The fruit should have great size for its variety, should be mostly round, and the flesh should be rich in color.

Touch: This is the most overrated on the senses. We can't really tell much from touching. An apple feels firm, a peach or plum just bruises when squeezed. Stone fruit needs to leave the tree still a bit firm, so we can get it to you without bruising. Squeezing fruit (although VERY fun), really tells you very little. Fruit should come to you a bit firm, so you can get it home safe and sound.

Smell: Well, it should smell fresh and sweet.

Taste: Well, nothing is quite as good as tasting. That's why we always want to you to taste our fruit before you buy. Of course, varieties differ, some are tart, some are sweeter, some have high acid, some have low juice .it depends on what you are looking for.

Test: The Science of Sweetness SM uses the measurement of a plant's BRIX index. The BRIX index is calculated by a combination of sugars, as determined by a refractometer (a very cool science device!) BRIX equals the different sugars and other solids of the fruit juice.

This leads us to the role of juice in sweetness. Since sugars do not develop once picked; how come fruit tastes sweeter a day or two later? Well, juiciness helps deliver the sugars. High sugar and low juice, just doesn't taste as sweet. So a juicy apple or a juicy peach will taste sweeter than a firmer one. A combo of high juice and high sugar is a knockout (honeycrisp apple anyone?)

What's the perfect BRIX level? We don't know yet. We test every fruit at every market to start building our charts. We tingle when we hit 20% and over but each fruit and each variety, and each condition will be different.

We'd be happy to demonstrate when you stop by our Seedling Fruit booth at your farmers' market. Our rule of thumb is the higher the BRIX, the sweeter the fruit. There, you can see, smell, feel and most importantly, taste the impact the Science of Sweetness makes on perfectly ripe, perfectly delicious fruit.