A producer in the Val Venosta region of South Tyrol in north-eastern Italy is reportedly set to harvest the first volumes of red-fleshed apples to be grown in the country later this year.
Although production of the fruit remains very much at the trial stage, according to those involved, it is expected that the first 3,500 trees will produce fruit this coming September.
Created by Munich-based specialist Wihenstephan, the apple variety has been given the name Weirouge.
Karl Luggin, the Italian producer who secured the rights to grow the red-fleshed, red-skinned apple, says full commercialisation of the variety remains some way off.
'The whole thing needs to develop further,' he told reporters. 'Apples that are red on the inside and outside have ten times the properties of normal apples, but they are a little sharper. Their juice is very similar to raspberry juice.'
Walter Guerra, an expert in agricultural research at the Agricultural and Forestry Research Centre based in Laimburg near Bolzano, South Tyrol, said the apple could be released on to the general market within four years.
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