The laborious reddening process of Melannurca Campana IGP by Aop Luce has started a couple of weeks ago: every apple will ripen for roughly ten days on the ‘melaio’ - a bed made of straw upon which the apples are put and turned twice or three times, so to grant a uniform colour and to facilitate the intense red colouring.
The process will end towards mid November, when the last apples will be harvested. Starting from the end of this week, the first Melannurcas will be available for commercialization.
The 2017 campaign was very positive – for it was characterised by higher prices than 2016 of 15 cents p/kg ca., trailed by a fall in the quantity of apples available on the market – the abundancy foreseen for the upcoming campaign hopefully will not cause a drop in the prices for this variety – since meaningful rises in the volumes are not expected.
The summer weather was ideal for the ripening of the Melannurca. It has been fresh, characterised by frequent rains. But mostly, it has been characterised by a relevant temperature variation, which facilitated the apples' pigmentation. This means that the apples will rest for a shorter time on the ‘melaio’: instead of the usually required 15 days, this year it will only take 10 days.
Giacomo Galdiero, A.o.p. Luce CEO, stated that “The quality is excellent. Every ripening stage went by the book and the size is good. We will start aligning the prices with the ones from the campaign of two years ago, so to take into account the apple market current situation. Melannurca is a peculiar case, a little niche: if you consider that the total production is of 40.000 tons ca., the 25% of which only is IGP certified.
Contacts:
A.O.P. LUCE
Email: info@aopluce.com
Web: www.aopluce.com