WATSONVILLE, CA - Berry lovers will rejoice as the latest news from Driscoll’s hits the wires. The berry supplier just launched its newest innovation, Tropical Bliss™, further boosting its high-flavor strawberry collection. Alongside this new launch, Driscoll’s rolled out a proprietary sensory wheel on which these berry flavors are mapped. The Berry Patch Sensory Wheels™ is designed to capture the full sensory spectrum of tasting any of Driscoll’s berries.

“As the leader in flavor, Driscoll’s is proud to be the first in the industry to define the sensory experience for consumers everywhere, from sophisticated connoisseurs to kids,” stated Henry Yeung, R&D Sensory Lead. “The Driscoll’s Berry Patch Sensory Wheels™ took a team of sensory scientists over two years to create and we are excited to see consumers interact with them as they sample our newest flavor innovation in strawberries.”

According to a press release, this curated collection of strawberries to which Tropical Bliss™ belongs was developed through traditional breeding methods, with no GMOs, and are always used to develop Driscoll’s Only the Finest Berries™.

As one such berry, Tropical Bliss™ combines the classic flavor of sweet berries and light flavor notes of tropical punch, pineapple, and passionfruit. The berry itself has naturally white and yellow hues, with a perfectly ripe and sweet taste that finishes on a refreshing note.

“With more than 70 years of strawberry breeding expertise, Driscoll’s has one of the largest R&D Centers dedicated to proprietary varieties,” commented Philip Stewart, Global Strawberry Breeding Director. “Creating Only The Finest Berries™ is core to our innovation strategy, and we look forward to continuing to provide our consumers with quality, high-flavor berries.”

As you can imagine, the time it takes to create proprietary varieties runs into years as the team works to perfect the product. Tropical Bliss™ is now a part of Driscoll’s other strawberry offerings, Sweetest Batch™ and Rosé Berries™.

Due to the seasonality of all three of these high-flavor strawberries, supplies are limited and only available in the spring and summer. All three berries are available at select retailers now.

The press release went on to note the importance of the Driscoll’s Strawberry Sensory Wheel™, since it enhances the supplier’s ability to communicate flavor to berry consumers, and showcases the continuous research done by its Berry Innovators. Every one of its berries has a dedicated proprietary sensory wheel.

The innovation was years in the making but through it, Driscoll’s Berry Innovators created a process to objectively identify flavor dimensions in strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

They were looking for the following:

• Taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami
• Texture: characteristics like crunchy and firm
• Aroma: scents like lemon, mango, and tropical punch
• Mouthfeel: physical sensations like juicy and refreshing

As the company noted, the individual and combined sensory wheels help consumers describe all the possible sensations they can expect when taking a bite of any Driscoll’s berry.

Retailers, I imagine you won’t want to wait around and miss out on this opportunity!

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