The clemenules have had a short season that has ended coinciding with the year itself.
Two weeks before expected compared to the normal dates, the variety that is the queen of the clementines has reached its end, although it also true that “the season started ten days early,” Ramón Gil, executive from Algitama explains.
During the first part of the campaign, the company from Valencia experienced different situations. It started off with the Oronules variety, which was quite satisfactory, particularly due to the colour and the quality of this mandarin. On the other hand, although the clemenules reached the necessary brix, there was a problem with the changes in colour due to the high night time temperatures that were recorded in November, which caused some batches to remain green on the outside.”
This problem also meant that the harvesters had to pass through the fields more often.
“December brought a drastic change in the temperatures with it and all the clementines that could not be harvested before became ripe at the same time with very good appearance and high calibres. In the near future we will change over to the Clemenvilla and the Hernandina,” Gil remarks.
Algitama has always opted for high quality citrus fruits, almost 80% of which are prepared with their leaves, for both clementines and oranges. The cooperative’s customers know how to appreciate the bonus of freshness that a citrus fruit brings that reaches the consumers with a green leaf on it and an excellent presentation. European countries, particularly France, recognise the high quality of these Valencian citrus fruits.
Algitama’s business work is being diversified between its head offices in the town of Puzol, which have recently been extended, its installations in Viver, which also look after the demand from the farmers of Alto Palancia, its renewed and modern stands at Mercovasa and its melon installations in La Mancha.
Years ago, Gil, a visionary of the new market demands, anticipated the current trends in local fruit and vegetables. And from the land of the Palancia River he serves short distance produce such as tomatoes, watermelons, Italian peppers, courgettes or artichokes during the summer. Another of his success stories, related to local consumption and closely linked to Valencian gastronomy are the trays of vegetables that are typically used for making paella (garrafón” and “rochet” beans) that are prepared for one of the main Valencian supermarket chains. “It is a product with a very high demand from Thursdays onwards, when households are already beginning to think about the weekend family meal, as any paella worth its salt contains these three vegetables.”
But if any fruit takes importance away from another during this campaign, this is the melon, the fruit with the longest history in the organisation and with the greatest brand recognition. And here, once again, Algitama forged ahead of the times and presented one of the most demanded melons at the moment, the Mini Oro, a fruit that weighs between 1.4 and 1.8 kilos, suitable for small family units.
