Australia
December 8, 2025
Sijia Guo is Rijk Zwaan’s Sales Representative based in South Australia. Here, she discusses our capsicum breeding program, which has helped deliver sweeter, multi-coloured pointed capsicums with robust resistance to common diseases.
What keeps capsicum growers up at night?
I work with growers across South Australia, particularly in the Virginia region, where many capsicum producers rely solely on the warm season. This creates a constant challenge: aligning production with demand and hitting the market when conditions – and prices – are favourable.
Pests, diseases, and unpredictable weather are also always of major concern for growers. Our breeding program is focused on helping growers manage these pressures with genetics and innovations that increase crop resilience and continuously improve disease resistance. This includes resistances to key threats such as Tobamoviruses and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV).
Why are you excited about Sweet Palermo?
Sweet Palermo offers something genuinely different. The capsicum market is highly commoditised, so finding true differentiation - and the chance to grow the segment - is exciting.
The shelf-life is a key selection trait for our Sweet Palermo varieties. Fruits packed in a plastic bag can easily last 14-21 days when stored between 12-18°C. They also feature a rounded tip to reduce breakage and stay fresher, longer.
As the name suggests, Sweet Palermo is surprisingly sweet and juicy - unlike what many Australians typically expect from a capsicum. They are high in vitamin C, containing three to four times as much as an orange, so they are a very healthy and delicious snacking option.
It’s a product that really stands out and the eating experience is exceptional. However, we’re offering more than just a seed with this product. It comes with branding and marketing support, and we are working to educate buyers about the benefits this product offers.
What support does Rijk Zwaan offer to growers wanting to try Sweet Palermo?
We support growers on several levels. Once the seeds are in the ground, growers can rely on ongoing technical support and trial guidance. We work one-on-one to help achieve strong plant performance, excellent fruit quality, and the full yield potential.
We also assist at the point of sale. Our aim is to grow the market and help capsicum growers secure more shelf space by providing branding, promotional support, and clear point-of-sale materials that explain what makes Sweet Palermo different. We undertake consumer research and work closely with retailers to improve product recognition and ensure the right messages reach shoppers.
Sweet Palermo has the potential to convert people who traditionally don’t like other types of capsicum, so if you are a grower looking to trial this variety, we encourage you to talk to us.
How should we prepare Sweet Palermo?
Sweet Palermo has earned multiple international taste awards, and for good reason. It delivers amazing flavour no matter how you use it. It’s fantastic grilled, baked or fried, but the chefs we work with often say that the product shines in its raw form. It’s visually striking with its vibrant, contrasting colours and its twisty top, so Sweet Palermo instantly lifts the look of any dish and adds real appeal to the plate. It’s perfect as a stand-alone snack, or to decorate salads.
I would encourage anyone hoping to get kids into capsicum to experiment with Sweet Palermo. We've packed our Veggies First website with practical, science-backed tips and ideas to help parents inspire a lifelong love of veggies in their kids. Sweet Palermo has a pleasant sweet smell, which kids can be more sensitive to, and the skin is very thin so it’s easier for little teeth to chew. As we all work hard to increase vegetable consumption for community wellbeing, encouraging snacking on veggies like Sweet Palermo is a great tool to achieve that.
Featured products
PALERMO RZ F1
Sweet Palermo | Dulce Italiano | Red
PALERMO OBEDIUS RZ F1 (35-529)
Sweet Palermo | Dulce Italiano | Orange
PALERMO YOCARINO RZ F1 (35-1245)
Sweet Palermo | Dulce Italiano | Yellow
PALERMO CHOCOLONY RZ F1 (35-1228)
Sweet Palermo | Dulce Italiano | Burgundy
Topics
Species
