"Everyone knows Sicilian lemons have excellent characteristics and are therefore very much in demand. What is more, they produce a lot of juice, as emerged from a comparative test we performed on Sicilian lemons and other varieties focusing on their specific weight and juice yield," explains Giovanni Pezzino di Geronimo (in the photo), sales manager of Il Limonde del Barone, a company passed on from one generation to the next since the 1700s.
The land is located in Carlentini in the Siracusa province, where 70 hectares are dedicated to growing oranges and seedless lemons of the Femminello Sfusato variety employing organic techniques.
"Prices are stable at the moment with peaks in the retail segment, where they can even reach €3.50-4.00/kg, leading of course to a drop in consumption."
"This in turn means demand is also dropping which, combined with the competition of the produce from Spain, is resulting in final consumers contacting producers directly."
"Yet we are talking about lemons that have almost double the juice of other varieties. A 200 gram Limone Del Barone lemon produces 85 grams of juice, i.e. 43% of its total weight and therefore much more than the juice produced by other varieties (sometimes even below 20%).
"Basically it is like saying that it takes two lemons to obtain the same juice produced by our Limone Del Barone".
"Most of the produce is sold abroad. Processing is carried out by hand in the 2500 sq m company facility, also because we process lemons with leaves harvested on the same day they are shipped."
Fruits are placed according to client needs in 750 gram to 3 kg nets, 30x40 wooden or cardboard double-layer crates, one or two layer basket boxes and pre-priced packets with barcodes. The produce shipped is perfect and with uniform grades."
Contacts:
Azienda Agricola Sperone
Il limone del Barone
Contrada Sperone
96013 Carlentini (SR) - Italy
Cell.: (+39) 349 3553990
Email: info@illimonedelbarone.it
Website: www.illimonedelbarone.it