Varieties

Would you like to see our varieties? Calendar. In the citrus market, and particularly oranges and mandarins in general, things have become completely distorted.

The main reasons have been that the large European chains have demanded a product that looks more like it came out of an industrial factory than from artisanal fieldwork out in the open.

They justify it by saying that the consumer wants fruit that is uniform in colour, size and shape, with minimal levels of sugars and acids and a perfect skin without flaws.

This is a big mistake, since a tree that produces five hundred oranges will not produce oranges that are all alike: they will not have the same shape, nor the same colour, nor, of course, the same imperfections. They will, however, have the same taste or flavour, if picked at their exact point of ripeness.

"What is being sold, the looks or the flavour?"

The market offers varieties that only have good looks, that keep well in cold storage and do not suffer in transport. These facts have forced orange and mandarin farming, in recent decades, to change radically. Before, in the field there were only two or three varieties of each kind, with a long tradition and a great deal of experience in quality, flavour and so on.

We must not remain stuck in time, nor in the varieties, but we believe the consumer should be given clear ideas. As with the types, we believe that until a variety is sufficiently tested and the tree fully developed, it should not be taken to market; only when it is reliable enough to replace one with another.

We warn the consumer that three types of orange cover the whole season (Navelinas, Navel Lane and Valencias) and, as for mandarins, there is only one, the Clementine, under different names and mutations — be they ClemenPons, ClemenRubi, Nadorcott, Oro, among others. Do not be fooled!