European Picota cherries first landed in UK supermarkets the week commencing 21 June, after being harvested in the first few weeks of June.
“The harvest conditions have been very favourable, with enough low temperatures throughout the winter to ensure that the trees are able to flower easily. In fact, this season we are expecting both excellent fruit quality as well as high volumes,” explains Miguel Ángel Durán, Export Manager at Picota growers association Agrupación Cooperativas Valle del Jerte. “Despite the rains at the beginning of the season that affected some of the earlier cherry varieties, we are expecting the campaign to go ahead with a very good outcome and with good prospects.”
“The rains earlier on in the year affected the earliest cherry varieties, but benefitted the later varieties such as the Picota, as they take slightly longer to ripen than other varieties. The growers don’t use artificial fertigation for the growth of the cherry crop, and so the rains favoured the upcoming varieties, causing a natural humidity that is essential in aiding the cherry trees to produce high quality fruit.”
Picota cherry exports to the UK are growing year on year and the grower’s organisation Agrupación Cooperativas Valle de Jerte hope to improve on these again this season, which has got off to a very positive start. In 2019 2 million kg of picotas were sold in the UK, and in 2020, this increased to a further 3.75 million kg. The predicted Picota volumes destined for the UK this season are much higher than last year: they hope to hit 4 million kg of Picotas this year, which would mean selling at least 25% more cherries than 2020.
Agrupacion are looking to grow these figures year on year gradually to meet growing consumer demand, especially in the UK.
“The Picota stands out for its small size, where all the characteristic flavour of this exclusive variety is concentrated. It is marketed at 21 mm +; it is sweeter and crunchier than larger cherries, which is why it has a high average brix between 18º and 24º.”
The Picota is a traditional variety of the Jerte Valley. Its cultivation still undergoes the same processes year after year, and they are grown on cherry trees that are on average 40 years old, something that is very unusual in other modern crops. Small plantations are also still maintained. Farmers who produce this cherry variety continue to do so on small farms, so small that they do not measure their farms by hectares but by trees.
“We estimate that there are 1 million Picota cherry trees in the Jerte Valley. Harvesting is done by hand and it is still a very family-based crop. Apart from the domestic market, the UK is the main importer of Picota cherries as a market where our Picotas are very well-known and appreciated by the consumer. We also export cherries to Germany and the Nordic countries, where consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the great quality of the Picota.”
For more information
Gemma Cooper
Tel: +44 (0)1480 583062
gemma@redcomm.co.uk
pickapicotafromeu.com