Cold Snap™ in the News
Good Fruit Grower, June 2017
By Kate Prengaman
A decade after a processing plant closed and presistent fire blight problems pushed many Ontario growers out of the pear business, there's new excitement about pears in Canada. The reason: a handful of new varieties that offer fire blight resistance, cold hardiness and high-density productions are re-engergizing the industry. Read more.
Canada's own hybrid pear could feed a growing appetite for fruit and local produce
National Post, February 13, 2017
By Hollie Shaw
Chefs love pears. Poached in Amarone and served with marscapone, crème fraiche or couverture chocolate, they remain a dessert staple on many a five-star menu. Canadians love pears, too. Their consumption of the fruit continues to grow even though homegrown pear production has steadily declined for 40 years. Read more.
Vineland Growers' Co-operative an agri-food innovator
Niagara Farmers' Monthly, January 5, 2017
It’s one of the world’s oldest industries, but that doesn’t mean innovation stops in agriculture. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal honoured a number of Ontario groups at the 10th annual Premier’s Awards for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence in December. Read more.
Fresh Bites: Cold Snap pears offer juicy fresh taste into the New Year
Toronto Star, November 23, 2016
By Cynthia David
Late fall usually is a sad time for local pear lovers as first Bartlett, then Bosc disappear from supermarket shelves, to be replaced by imports. But until the end of January Ontario growers are proudly packing a new late-season variety in bright blue bags and clamshells with whimsical graphics. Read more.
Cold Snap pear set to entice Ontario fruit consumers
CBC News Kitchener-Wateloo, October 15, 2016
By Andrew Coppolino
We love apples in the fall, crispy and freshly picked from local orchards. But let's also celebrate another autumn fruit favourite that sometimes gets ignored: the pear. It's about to experience something of a Renaissance in Ontario too. A relative of the apple – some would say its grandfather in the familial lineage – the pear has been cultivated for several thousand years. Read more.
Growing Forward 2 brings new life to Ontario pear-growing
Agricultural Adaptation Council, September 20, 2016
By Lilian Schaer
It’s the new variety that has brought pear growing in Ontario back from the brink of extinction. And it’s funding from Growing Forward 2 (GF2) that the president of the Vineland Growers’ Co-operative credits with helping make that happen. Read More.
New "Made in Canada" pear now available in local grocery stores
AgInnovation Ontario, January 26, 2016
By Kelly Daynard
Research conducted by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) in 2014 showed that the average Canadian doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about pears when they’re grocery shopping. And unlike apples where names come more readily, consumers can rarely name pear varieties that they like. A new partnership though between Vineland and the Vineland Growers’ Co-operative Ltd. aims to change that with a new made-in-Canada pear – the Cold Snap™ pear. Read more.
Get ready for the Cold Snap: Canada's first branded pear
Niagara This Week, December 14, 2015
By Amanda Moore
When it came time to market a new pear variety developed by researchers in Vineland, experts looked to the apple. "When it comes to apples, people have their favourites. But we found that with pears, it was more generic," said Amy Bowen, program leader for consumer insights at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. "We knew that to market this pear, we needed to make it something that consumers would ask for by name." Read more.
Cold Snap growers strive fo perfect pear
Canadian Grocer, September 25, 2015
By David Sherman
Retailers in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces will be able to start selling a “premium” Canadian pear later this year. The Cold Snap is a culmination of more than 20 years of research and development. Read more.
Eating Niagara: Big plans afoot for the lowly pear
St. Catharines Standard, September 22, 2015
By Tiffany Mayer
A pear with a cool name will hit store shelves this fall, and growers have their fingers crossed consumers will warm up to it. It’s called the Cold Snap, a new moniker for a fruit that was originally expected to make its debut in grocery stores last year, were it not for the chilly reception given to its original handle, the ho-hum AC Harovin Sundown. Read more.
Grocers hungry for winter-season pear
The Grower, September 2015
By Karen Davidson
The Cold Snap pear is now on the stage, and it deserves to blush with all the fanfare. After 20 years of painstaking study, these bred-in-Canada, grown-in-Canada pears are set for their consumer debut at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Read More.