Photo: Ande Manos, marketing and business development manager, displays one of the newest items for Babe Farms. Video: Marketing coordinator Matt Hiltner describes some of the attributes of the new Purple Ninja radish.
MONTEREY, Calif. — A new radish variety from Babe Farms has a purple color the company hopes will vault it to the same popularity as the hot-pink watermelon radish.
The company has been growing a smaller version of the Purple Ninja for several years but is now offering it in a larger size for the first time. Babe Farms introduced the product at the 2018 PMA Foodservice Conference and Expo.
“What’s great about it (is) because it’s kind of a cylindrical shape, you can get a lot more even cuts ... ” said Ande Manos, marketing and business development manager. “It’s kind of got that horseradish flavor profile, and mainly the flavor is kind of in the skin.”
The Purple Ninja is available to foodservice now, and Manos said it enjoyed a strong reception during the tradeshow.
“There’s just so much happening in foodservice as far as that pop of color, and radishes are super on-trend lately, with (the European varieties) and these, so we’re just really kind of upping our game in the radish program,” Manos said. “The color pop is so important on the plate, and we really play it up on social media as well.”
Babe Farms also introduced the French violet radish — purple on the outside, white on the inside and about 1.5-2.5 inches long — at the event.