"January marks the start of the best citrus period. All those fruits are in season, and there's a wide variety," says Ellen Sebrechts of the Belgian company, Sebrechts Fruit. After the holidays, citrus demand rises sharply. "Consumers want to start the new year healthily and choose products with fewer calories. Citrus always benefits."
© Sebrechts Fruit
That is different around the festive season. "People eat all kinds of things, and citrus sales drop slightly," says Ellen. What is unusual, though, is that people increasingly want something special. "There's more demand for exclusive citrus products you can't find everywhere. Shoppers are curious and want to discover new flavors."
Exclusivity makes it distinctive
With more than 65 years of experience in the fruit and vegetable trade, Sebrechts Fruit deliberately focuses on a distinctive assortment. "We want to offer products that aren't available everywhere and preferably also be one of the first to do so. You can find the ordinary everywhere," Ellen insists. That gives market vendors the opportunity to surprise buyers with something new.
© Sebrechts Fruit
During the winter, that exclusive range includes choco oranges: fruit with a dark-brown peel and bright orange, sweet, juicy flesh. "That's a stable niche product that sells well." Blood and Cara Cara oranges, and bergamot oranges and lemons - used in products like Earl Grey tea - form part of that assortment too. Sebrechts Fruit also sees demand for organic lemons, for making, say, limoncello.
Always an alternative available
That exclusive citrus range changes with the seasons. Other varieties replace the chocolate oranges when they disappear in February. "Then it's mainly special clementine varieties," Ellen explains. There is the Taclé, a clementine mutation, available from late December, followed by Clemenova, Clemenvilla, and later in the season, blood mandarins. "So there's always an exclusive product you can substitute."
Brown-skinned oranges
© Sebrechts Fruit
Though its name suggests otherwise, choco oranges do not taste of chocolate. "Choco refers to the brown peel," says Sebrechts, "reminiscent of orangettes: candied orange peel with chocolate." Just like the candy, the oranges are bright orange on the inside and remarkably sweet. "We source them from Spain and only carry the large sizes; that's when the brown skin is most prominent," she concludes.
Sebrechts Fruit uses its varied, exclusive supply to respond to the growing demand for distinction and experience in citrus when the season is at its best. (MW)
For more information:
Sebrechts Groenten & Fruit
Kielsbroek 4
2020 Antwerpen
Tel: +32 32374192
[email protected]
www.sebrechtsfruit.be
