Lipman, headquartered in Immokalee, FL, and one of the nation’s larger growers of open-field tomatoes, long ago made a major commitment to research and development that is now yielding major results.

The company unveiled its latest proprietary round variety, the “Crimson Queen” at PMA Fresh Summit last month, improved flavor and a bright red interior. On the heels of that announcement, the company is now introducing its new proprietary “Ripe Bites” grape tomatoes, which also offer better flavor and color and higher sugar than other varieties.

“It all starts with our commitment to development. We’re making great strides there,” said Lipman spokesperson Jessica Kerstein. “That’s why we have the ‘Crimson Queen’ and the ‘Ripe Bites.’ We’ve gotten size, color and flavor improvements in round, grape, Romas — all the different varieties. We’ve increased yields and we’ve gotten bacteria and wilt resistance built-in.”

The “Ripe Bites” are so sweet they are grown only indoors in specially designed “smart” Cravo greenhouses that provide protection but allow plants to be grown in soil, and are automatically programmed to open when the weather is favorable and close when it presents a threat. With such a high sugar content, the “Ripe Bites” could literally split if grown outdoors in unprotected conditions.

Kerstein got a surprise on a recent visit to a greenhouse.

“I felt the smallest little breeze from one side coming and that side automatically started to close,” she said. “Weather monitors determine when a storm is coming and when the sides should be opened or closed. After a few minutes, as soon as the wind died down, it opened again. ”

“Ripe Bites” are “a higher flavor grape tomato, really, really sweet,” Kerstein said. “We’ve been working on it for many years. We grew some last year and they did really well so we decided to devote the entire five-acre greenhouse operation to ‘Ripe Bites’. They did so well and tasted so good, we’re really trying to set these apart from our traditional grape tomatoes. We had some last year and we really weren’t marketing them, we were just having people test them and taste them. There was such an overwhelming response we decided to increase the acreage and see how they do.”

“Ripe Bites” will come to market in a plastic bag with a re-closable handle “similar to a table grape” instead of the traditional clamshell, Kerstein said.

Lipman is also focusing on its Florida fall vegetable crop, all grown on its Immokalee farm and featuring zucchini, squash, eggplant and peppers. Lipman also has a thriving red and yellow potato program that allows retailers to feature fresh product instead of storage potatoes.

The vegetable component “gives us a more comprehensive program,” Kerstein said. “Tomatoes are the majority of what we do so sometimes the vegetable deal got lost. That’s why we moved it all to one farm here in Florida where it can be especially taken care of. We think it’s important to add that value for our customer, we want to be a one-stop shop for them.”