IT'S a niche industry, but anyone who knows the harvesting season for custard apples in Australia might be surprised to spot Karen Martin out in her paddock picking fruit in mid-October.
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"We're in the full swing of it," Ms Martin said.
"Harvest started in September, and it'll go through until December."
Custard apple season in Australia is traditionally from February until August, but a chance discovery in their fields some 25 years ago has great potential for expanding the custard apple season by months.
A new variety of custard apple, since named PinksBlush, was discovered by Ms Martin's father-in-law, on a branch of a Pinks Mammoth tree.
Having access to custard apples outside of its traditional harvest season has sparked interest in wholesale markets, with the Martins, Karen and husband Robert, currently unable to meet the demand.
"We've traditionally sold to Melbourne markets, and we're getting a lot of interest from other capital cities," Ms Martin said.
"We're looking at sending some to Adelaide, but we've [also] had interest from Sydney, Brisbane, and also in Western Australia."
They're currently the only growers of this unique species in the country, with the Martins now the owners of the Plant Breeders Rights for the variety, with plans to commercialise in the future.
"We've already had interest over the last three or four years," Ms Martin said.
But before the new variety takes root up the coast of Queensland, the Martins want to ensure they know everything they can about the unique variety, to share with future growers.
They currently have approximately 2000 custard apple trees on their farm, with plans to expand to 5000.
"We just want to be able to fill up our own farm first," Ms Martin said.
"But also provide enough statistics to potential growers who are keen to grow our fruit, to show them just what our [PinksBlush] fruit is."
The PinksBlush custard apples are grown alongside lychees and dragon fruit on the Martin's Yanalla Farms in the Glasshouse Mountains region of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
Beyond their plans to extend the Australian harvest season for custard apples through their unusual new variety, the Martin's are also working in collaboration with a university to reduce waste on their farm.
"We always have some waste," Ms Martin said.
"It's quite disheartening to see if you have to throw that [produce] away, because its either got disease on the skin, or marks, or for whatever reasons."
The Martins have recently started working in collaboration with Macquarie University on trials using waste grade fruit for distilling and fermentation.
"Over time the quantity of fruit we supply to the university will increase," Ms Martin said.
"They're doing trials and testing now to see what sort of benefits they can [get] using the three fruits that we grow."
"We'd certainly like to see that project come to fruition, and that way we can be assured that we're throwing nothing away, and that we're getting good value for every piece of fruit that we grow."
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