What a Gem: The new avocado variety that’s bigger than a Hass and tastes like a Reed

Gem avocados are now available in New Zealand. Photo / the Avo Tree

Get your Vogels ready, there’s a new avo in town.

While avocado on toast is still the breakfast of choice for many, it can be hard to find one that’s perfectly ripe and ready to eat for a good price.

In fact, New Zealand’s avocado industry has been battling to stay afloat over the past few years thanks to bad weather and plummeting prices, but now a new variety is on the market - and Kiwi growers are welcoming the news.

Gem avocados are smaller than the premium Reed variety but 20% bigger than the Hass. Photo / The Avo Tree

Enter the GEM™ - the newest arrival on the New Zealand avo scene.

They are bigger than the Hass variety but grow on smaller trees - meaning growers can plant 400 of them per hectare of land, compared to 150 Hass trees per hectare.

Hass is the most common variety of avocado grown in New Zealand, whose thick green skin turns black when ripened, while their high fat content gives them a creamy flavour.

Reed avocados, which are usually pricier than the Hass, are larger and often hailed as the best-tasting with a slightly nutty flavour. Unlike the Hass, their skin stays green once ripe.

The new variety supposedly combines the best of both worlds, promising a rich and nutty taste while ripening similarly to the Hass.

And in welcome news for those of us who struggle to use up avocados before they turn brown, they’ll also reportedly last longer in your fruit bowl or fridge because they contain a particular enzyme.

Toast with tahini sauce and sliced avocado

But you won’t be able to find these in the supermarket just yet.

They’ve launched online with the Avo Tree, a delivery company based in the Bay of Plenty that offers an avocado subscription service. Seeka, which owns the licence to GEM™ avocados in New Zealand, has given the Avo Tree exclusive distribution rights.

And while they’re on the pricey side, costing $3.50 each - like the premium Reed avocados that tend to sell out each summer - the Avo Tree director Thorley Robbins says it means growers will get paid what they’re worth.

“The growers can actually make some money off the fruit that they’ve spent the last 20 years growing,” Robbins says.

Avocado grower Peter Guy from Pahoia in the Bay of Plenty says that he’s had to sell his Hass avocados for less than the cost of producing them, as domestic retail prices have dropped by 61% in the last three years.

In June this year, Coromandel orchardist Allan Dickinson, who also grows Hass, told the Country that “returns have never been worse” for avocados.

“Basically, there’s an oversupply,” he explained.

“The New Zealand avocado industry has traditionally relied on the Australian market as its main export partner.”

Usually, around 85% of Kiwi avocados go to Australia - but in recent years, the Aussies have been overproducing their own, which in turn drives down the prices of New Zealand-grown avocados for local shoppers.

The new type is in season from August to October.