30 years on, Ferdi Esselen's Sweet Sunrise gains popularity

Situated on the banks of the Crocodile River and overlooking the Kruger National Park, Esselen Nursery specialises in citrus trees. 52-year-old Leon Esselen, Ferdi's son, remembers his father being told the fruit, the size of a large tennis ball, was too small to market, but Esselens never gave up on the idea of developing it commercially.

Leon says that Sweet Sunrise is different from a normal bitter grapefruit because of its low acidity and sweetness. An earlier sample sent to the U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer received the thumbs up with the chain - who described it as more like eating an orange than a grapefruit. A sample carton of the fruit has also gone down well in Japan. "We had a very good reaction from children in Japan. They loved it, they said it was something different. Children normally don't like bitter things."

Currently, Leon is budding the first 3,000 Sweet Sunrise trees, "Within the next four years," he tells Fresh Fruit Portal, "100 hectares of the cultivar will be planted in South Africa and it will extend to other countries." Leon says his father, now aged 80, still takes an active interest in the nursery. "My father is very proud to get it on the road for marketing and planting."

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