Good volumes and quality are expected for this season’s crop, according to Agrupación de Cooperativas del Valle del Jerte
Spanish Picota cherries have defied the rainy spring, with good volumes of high-quality crop predicted as the season kicks off.
Spain’s mild and wet spring has affected a number of fruits, and has resulted in the start of the Picota cherry season in the Jerte Valley being delayed by around two weeks.
However, producer organisation Agrupación de Cooperativas del Valle del Jerte reported that a medium-to-high harvest is still expected, with quality looking ”extremely good”.
The Picota sector did not suffer any significant impact from hail, the cooperative stressed, and while rainfall did affect the opening days of the season and caused some damage to extra-early varieties during the ripening stage, it has not held the sector back.
It all means that growers are in an “optimistic mood” when it comes to presenting their cherries to consumers, the cooperative outlined, with the region’s fruit protected by Denomination of Origin status to guarantee their quality and authenticity.
“We love all kinds of cherries, but we’re convinced that Picotas are the best for healthy snacking,” said Agrupación chief executive Mónica Tierno Díaz.
“The fact that they are naturally stalkless is a great advantage. Stalked cherries often begin to deteriorate through the stalk, which dehydrates, falls off, and then the cherry starts to soften in that area.
”In contrast, Picotas are naturally sealed, so their shelf-life is longer,” she noted. ”You can store them in a sealed container in the fridge, and they last beautifully.”
The season kicks off at the end of May and is expected to run until late July or early August, with the UK representing the largest export destination for Picotas and the second-largest overall following the domestic Spanish market.
The Scandinavian nations are also a newer but fast-growing market for exporters, with consumers ”responding positively to the cherry’s particular characteristics”.
Agrupación has been running a longstanding promotional campaign in the UK, and is again planning a range of in-store retailer activity, recipe development, trade and consumer media this season as it looks to reinforce the fruit’s unique selling points.
“In some countries, this type of cherry is still unfamiliar, so we need to communicate to consumers what Picotas are and why they are the perfect sweet and healthy snack,” Tierno Díaz explained.
“Fortunately, we have been promoting them in the UK for more than 20 years, and both distributors and consumers already recognise and appreciate their uniqueness.”
