Our fruit, grown for the world.

South Africa is one of the southern hemisphere's major plum origins, and the crop runs from the second week of November through to the end of February depending on region and cultivar. Kloofvale Fruit handles both classic Japanese-type dessert plums and the newer interspecific selections, which cross plum with apricot genetics for higher sugar and a longer eating window.

Botanical

Prunus salicina and interspecific selections

Ships

November to April

Flesh

Yellow to deep red, firm-textured

Skin

Deep red through to near-black

Sugars

Modern selections reach 16 to 20 Brix at harvest

Handling

Stores well, so the marketing window can be extended

Cultivars bred by South Africa's Agricultural Research Council, such as African Delight, pick from late February and carry sugars well above the older commercial standards.

Pluots are interspecific hybrids, predominantly plum with apricot in the parentage. They carry the firmness and shipping strength of a plum with noticeably higher sugar, which is why they have become a premium line for buyers who want something beyond a standard dessert plum.

Botanical

Prunus salicina x Prunus armeniaca hybrid

Ships

December to February

Flesh

Dense, juicy, high sugar

Skin

Speckled and mottled, red through amber

Eating

Sweeter than a plum, with apricot aromatics

Handling

Plum-like firmness, ships as a dessert plum would

Sold as a specialty line rather than a volume commodity, so lists are matched to a buyer's programme rather than offered off the shelf.

Apricots are the earliest of the stone fruit lines and the shortest window, which makes programme planning critical. South African plantings sit overwhelmingly in the Western Cape, with the drier Karoo sites contributing the sun-ripened character the fruit is known for.

Botanical

Prunus armeniaca

Ships

November to January

Flesh

Orange, aromatic, softens quickly once ripe

Skin

Orange with a red blush on the sun side

Known cultivars

Bulida, Soldonne, Palsteyn and Bebeco are SA commercial standards

Handling

Short window and quick softening: cold chain discipline matters most here

Because the season is narrow, apricot allocations are usually committed early in the programme.

Peaches ship early in the stone fruit run and split into two commercial styles: cling, where the flesh holds to the stone, and freestone, where it releases. Both yellow and white flesh are grown, and the choice is usually driven by the destination market's preference.

Botanical

Prunus persica

Ships

November to March

Flesh

Yellow or white, cling and freestone

Skin

Fuzzed, red blush over yellow or cream ground

Known cultivars

Transvalia, Summersun and Temptation among SA dessert standards

Handling

Bruise-sensitive: handled soft and cooled fast

South African peach exports run to roughly 1.9 million 2.5kg cartons a season across the industry.

A nectarine is a peach without the fuzz, a single recessive gene apart. It has become the larger export line of the two, with industry volumes several times peach, because the smooth skin travels and displays well and the eating quality holds up over a long shipping leg.

Botanical

Prunus persica var. nucipersica

Ships

November to March

Flesh

Yellow or white, firm at pack

Skin

Smooth, high red colour

Known cultivars

Alpine, August Red and May Glo among SA standards

Handling

Firm-picked for export, ripens on to the shelf

Industry nectarine exports run to roughly 12 million 2.5kg cartons a season, comfortably ahead of peach.

Cherries are the shortest and most demanding line on the list. The crop needs cold winters, so it sits in the highest and coolest sites, and once picked it is handled almost entirely on speed: cooled immediately and moved quickly, often by air for the earliest fruit.

Botanical

Prunus avium

Ships

October to December

Flesh

Dense and sweet, dark through to blush

Skin

Glossy, dark red to near-black

Growing sites

Cool, high-lying Western Cape blocks

Handling

Most time-critical line: cooled immediately and moved fast, stems intact

Cherry allocation is tight and short. Programmes are best confirmed well before the window opens.

Pears are the first of the two pome lines and a South African export strength, with the industry shipping over 21 million cartons a season. Packham's Triumph alone accounts for roughly a third of national plantings, with Forelle the other major export name.

Botanical

Pyrus communis

Ships

January to April

Flesh

White, fine-grained, ripens after picking

Skin

Green through to the blushed Forelle type

Known cultivars

Packham's Triumph, Forelle and Abate Fetel lead SA exports

Handling

Picked mature but hard, then cold-stored and ripened to programme

Pears are picked unripe by design. Condition on arrival is a cold chain result, not a picking-date result.

Apples are the largest deciduous export line out of South Africa at over 51 million cartons a season, and the longest-storing fruit we handle. Over 95 percent of the national crop comes out of the Western and Eastern Cape, and the export mix has moved steadily toward red bi-coloured varieties.

Botanical

Malus domestica

Ships

February to May

Flesh

Crisp, firm, holds condition in storage

Skin

High colour on bi-coloured types, green on Granny Smith

Known cultivars

Royal Gala, Cripps Pink, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Fuji

Handling

Longest-keeping line: controlled storage extends the programme past harvest

Because apples store, supply can be scheduled across months rather than committed inside a narrow picking window.