Mystery of the Mango-Honeydew Nectarine – SOLVED!

Remember a few weeks ago, when I ate a delicious but perplexing fruit called the mango-honeydew nectarine?

I, along with many Googlers who came across my post, had a few big questions about this fruit:

1) What on earth is a mango-honeydew nectarine?  Is it really a mango-honeydew-nectarine hybrid?  

2) Why the Disney/Pixar label on the fruit?  Since when did Disney/Pixar start manufacturing fruit? 

Finally, after extensive researching, I think I’ve at long last, traced down its origins and solved the mystery.  And everything points to one culprit: marketing.  

A Los Angeles Times article dated this past July offered some insight into this blossoming designer fruit industry, and the new, unique varieties offered at local markets:

“[Fruit seller Ken Lee of Reedley, California] also offers a so-called mango nectarine, a confusing name for a delicious fruit. (At the Hawthorne market a customer actually asked the vendor, “How do you get that hybrid, by grafting?” As anyone conversant with horticultural science knows, a hybrid of mango and nectarine would be as unlikely as crossing a moose and an aardvark.) Mango nectarine in this case is just a marketing name for Honeykist, one of the best modern low-acid yellow nectarines, with some real flavor and aroma as well as sugar; Lee also uses the “mango” name for later varieties with a similar taste profile.” 

Ah ha!  I’m no horticulturalist, and I’m sure the same goes for a large percentage of the population.  In this world of ligers and zeedonks, I guess I assumed a true cross-breed between mangos + honeydews + nectarines was possible.  

Here’s more on this elusive Honeykist fruit: 

“One of the earliest yellow nectarines to ripen, Honeykist is sub-acid and therefore has a high sugar content and a very rich nectarine flavour. Honeykist, having been tasted, was described as having a full bodied flavour with a candy like sweetness.”

And further from the Los Angeles Times article:

“Like most low-acid varieties, Honeykist can and should be eaten when firmer than traditional nectarines; when fully ripe, it collapses into mush.”

Does this sound like something you ate?  Could very well be!

What strategic marketing!  An aptly named mango-nectarine would undoubtedly sell much better than the foreign-sounding “Honeykist-nectarine” – in fact, seeing the word “mango” and “nectarine” together was what drove me to buy these little guys in the first place.  Continuing in the Los Angeles Times:

“Ito Packing of Reedley, a commercial producer now out of business, was the first to make a splash marketing a mango nectarine, but this was an entirely different variety and style of fruit: bright golden yellow all over (with no red on the skin or near the pit), medium size, it’s mango-colored, but its flavor would only evoke mango to someone with an active imagination.”

So this clears up what a mango-nectarine is: a clever marketing ploy for certain nectarine varieties that fit the description. 

Now then, what are honeydew-nectarines?  From online produce-vendor, Melissa’s: 

“Their honeydew colored skin gives this fruit its misleading name. This smaller sized nectarine is actually a successful cross between several nectarine varieties. Its light green-yellow meaty flesh has a deliciously sweet taste and a wonderfully succulent texture.”

Ah ha!  Again!  Clever marketing.  A honeydew-nectarine is nothing more than a successful, honeydew-coloured, cross-pollinated nectarine. 

Although there is limited information on what a mango-honeydew nectarine is, I can only assume that it is a nectarine variety that somehow, due to the colour of its skin and flesh, evokes imagery of mangos and honeydews.  The skin of the nectarine started off pale green-yellow (honeydew), and got more golden as it ripened (mango).  The flesh of the nectarine was very dark orange (mango).   

One thing can be certain though: it is definitely NOT a hybrid fruit! 

And now the mystery behind the Disney/Pixar sticker.  A hint from Cabfrancophile led me to this site: Disney Garden & Imagination Farms.

Here’s what they do:

“OUR MISSION IS TO INCREASE THE CONSUMPTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AMONG CHILDREN.

Imagination Farms works with a number of world-class growers and shippers committed to quality and food safety. Every package of produce packed in the Disney Garden label is packed to meet rigorous quality standards that make it a fresh and wholesome product for your children. 

Look for Disney Garden branded fruits and vegetables. The exciting packaging that includes their favorite characters, as well as informational games and activities will help them relate to the products.”

 Mystery solved.  It’s a case of strategic branding.  

Disney Garden works with carefully selected organic farmers, and then sells their fruit with Disney branding on it in an attempt to generate more consumer (or kid/parent) interest in the products.  This makes it pretty clear that Disney/Pixar are not doing any farming or hybrid-fruit making themselves.  The Disney Garden brand is simply used on a farmers’ products to attract consumers – and in this case, it just so happened to be a nectarine that they named the “mango-honeydew nectarine”.

This is proof-positive of the incredible power in careful marketing.  An exotic and image-provoking name, along with a Disney sticker and character slapped on a plain ole’ nectarine – and look at the wild response.