Riberries

Common Names & Species: Riberry (Syzygium luehmannii).

Family:
Myrtaceae

Native To:
Sub-tropical and tropical Qld and NSW. Areas with average annual rainfall greater than 600mm.
>> Virtual Herbarium

Habit:
Small to medium tree. Evergreen, pyramidal tree 5- 30 metres tall. In its natural environment can be a large forest tree but under cultivation tree rarely grows to more than 10m.
>> Riberry plant and production information from Russell Glover (pdf 778 Kb)

Part Used:
Fruit: Red / pink ovoid or pear-shaped fruit, 12 – 15 mm long.

Flavour:
Strongly flavoured, tasting of cloves and spice.

Food Use:
For fruit-type flavour in sweet and savoury products. Whole fruit can be blended for use in ice cream, chocolates and sauces for meat dishes. The red colour pales to pink on cooking.

Current Retail Product Categories:
Jams & conserves, chutneys & relishes.

Food Quality & Safety Issues:
Currently there is no industry-wide product description or quality standards developed or published for this crop, though individual market channel groups are likely to be working to in-house standards

Crop collection, production and handling systems will eventually require the implementation of HACCP-based food safety systems. Wild harvested sources may have difficulty in some areas of these systems, such as product traceability requirements.

Wild Harvest/Cultivated Supplies:
Wild harvesting declining in importance and being overtaken by cultivation.

Wild Harvest Locations:
North coast NSW, southern Qld.

Cultivation Locations:
North coast NSW, southern Qld.

Approx Wholesale (‘Farm Gate’) Prices:
Whole frozen: $30/kg.

Current Volumes Traded:
Around 3-5 tonnes per annum from cultivation. Somewhat smaller amount from wild harvest.

Other Links:

• RIRDC Riberry information sheet (pdf file)