Subscribe to our newsletter
With our free newsletter, you won't miss any news about Interpoma and the new ipoma Issue 04 Magazine.
Foto credits: VOG, Hannes Ochsenreiter
ENVY™’s sensational success story began around 40 years ago in New Zealand. Today, this variety is paving the way for a whole new generation of apples.
Back in the mid-1980s, New Zealand’s apple industry was in good shape. The local favorites, Braeburn and Royal Gala, were in high demand both at home and abroad. But the New Zealand industry had aspirations to remain a leader in the global apple industry and continue to innovate. New Zealand enjoyed perfect apple-growing conditions with warm summers and cool winters. But southern-hemisphere competitors like Chile, Argentina and South Africa were starting to grow Gala on a large scale, and Braeburn was also popular in Chile. These countries could offer lower production costs and ship apples more quickly to major markets in America and Europe. How could this small island nation south-east of Australia keep up?
The answer was to create an apple nobody could resist. So, Allan White and his team from the Bioeconomy Science Institute (then part of the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research) set out to develop new game-changing varieties, one of which was “Scilate”, the apple that has been exclusively commercialized globally by T&G Global under the ENVY™ brand.
Foto credits: VOG
White and the breeding team not only achieved the industry’s goal with this variety – they exceeded it, with ENVY™ now present in almost 60 countries and regions across the globe. In Asia, it is the number one premium branded apple for awareness in Vietnam, Thailand and China. In the first six months of 2026, sales revenue for ENVY™ apples grew 34 percent in Vietnam and 26 percent in China.
Even in the US, where the market is feeling saturated, ENVY™ is gaining ground and outperforming the market, with household penetration rising from 7.2 percent in 2023 to 12.4 percent in 2025.
Through T&G’s closed licensing model it licenses over a thousand growers in 13 countries to grow ENVY™ under the same high-quality standards. In Europe, most production is centered in Italy (exclusively South Tyrol), as well as France, Spain, and, since 2020, Switzerland. Because ENVY™ is grown in both hemispheres, it is available year-round. T&G has invested heavily in this approach – and it paid off. Global retail sales of ENVY™ pushed past the magical one billion New Zealand dollar mark (about €510 million) for the first time earlier this year. No apple from Aotearoa has ever been so popular.
T&G’s promise is simple: consumers should always get the quality they know, love and expect. But ENVY™ is more than an apple; it’s an experience, as an Italian TV advert puts it: “Assaggia per credere” – taste it to believe it. And it is really true: every bite is a delight!
ENVY™’s description reads like poetry: a hint of citrus, followed by tropical flavors of pear, banana, pineapple, and mango. The refreshing acidity softens into a rich sweetness, and its ruby-red skin is brushed with painterly orange and yellow streaks. Even its name, ENVY™, feels fitting.
What really sets ENVY™ apart is its enduring texture. Even six months after harvest, it remains juicy and crunchy – something few other apples can claim. And when cut, the flesh barely oxidizes, so it doesn’t brown easily.
It took over 20 years to create this whizzkid, with White and his team crossing two of New Zealand’s apple elites: Braeburn and Royal Gala. Both are high-yielding and easy to grow. They were a perfect match, with the stately Braeburn bringing zingy acidity and the modest Royal Gala a gentle sweetness.
Allan White just had to decide whether to pollinate Royal Gala flowers with Braeburn pollen or vice versa. So, he tried both. Out of the 8,000 seeds produced by crossing Royal Gala flowers with Braeburn pollen, 7,000 were sown. After rigorous sorting, 211 seedlings were selected, and finally, “Scilate” was born. But the reverse cross was also a winner: with Braeburn as mother and Royal Gala as father, “Scilate’s” apple brother “Scifresh” was developed. T&G launched the variety as JAZZ™ apples in 2004 – a full four years before ENVY™.
Foto credits: VOG
The siblings’ formal variety names stem from “Sci” reflecting their origins in the breeding program, with the “fresh” in “Scifresh” referring to JAZZ™’s crisp, juicy bite and “late” in “Scilate” signaling ENVY™’s late harvest in April, the month in which the New Zealand apple season starts to wind down.
Taste-wise, JAZZ™ and ENVY™ are quite different. JAZZ™ has a distinctive tangy-sweet flavour and refreshing taste profile, whereas ENVY™ has a balanced sweetness and fresh aroma.
History seems to be repeating itself. Richard Volz, who succeeded White as the head apple breader in 2001, is also a visionary with the ability to recognize trends early on. As long as 25 years ago Volz, together with his New Zealand colleagues and the Catalan Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), realized that rising global temperatures would threaten apples worldwide, resulting in softer, paler fruit. “Without cool nights, apples don’t produce enough anthocyanins – the red coloring,” the 67-year-old explains.
So in 2003, the Bioeconomy Science Institute and IRTA formed the Hot Climate Programme, focused on developing a brand new category of apples and pears that thrive in hot and warming climates. They picked the very best varieties, crossed them, and set about searching for the needle in the haystack. Putting their chances of finding that breakthrough apple at one in ten thousand.
“It’s even harder today,” says Volz. “Standards for new apple varieties have improved in recent decades. These days it’s not enough just to meet the criteria; an apple has to offer something special that sets it apart from others with the same traits.”
In 2003, The Bioeconomy Science Institute and IRTA team were joined by Fruit Futur, a Catalonia-based grower group, and then, in 2019, T&G’s VentureFruit genetics and variety management business joined as the commercialization partner and the program became the Hot Climate Partnership.
The first apple variety to be launched from the partnership is “HOT84A1”, which VentureFruit has commercialized as TUTTI™, and it’s that rare find. Since the first fruit appeared on the original young plant in 2009, this apple has shown it can thrive in temperatures over 40°C.
Like ENVY™, setting a variety up for success first starts with the good genes. TUTTI™ has inherited its intense red color from its mother, a variety called “Scired”, and its excellent texture from both parents. Its father is none other than “Scilate” which has already revolutionized the apple market. And so it follows in its parents’ footsteps: today’s star is paving the way for the next generation of apples to face the challenges to come.
Text: Bettina Gartner
Foto credits: T&G (Sistema Binari)
