"Kale, kohlrabi and sweet onions increasingly popular"

The kale trend hasn't gone unnoticed by Bejo Iberica. In the past, the breeding company supplied kale seeds for a total acreage of 50 hectares, but now that volume has increased tenfold. At Fruit Attraction, shakes and dried kale were handed out on the stand showing the public the product's versatility.

Christiaan Reijnders

Under the label 'Bejo Sweet4U', the company introduces varieties that stand out with their sweet flavour. First to be distributed under this label were the sweet onions in two colours. "The cultivation of sweet onions is on the rise in Spain. Buyers are prepared to pay more for the product. We are perfectly able to store the sweet onions, harvested in June, until February in refrigeration. For the first time, we have plenty of seeds available to service the market," says director Christiaan Reijnders. "The red sweet onion may not be as well known, but it is super sweet."

Sweet onions

Another product introduced under the Sweet4U label is a sweet kohlrabi. "During selection, one variety was eaten by rabbits. Apparently they also appreciated the sweet flavour, and they helped us with our selection," Christiaan laughs. "In Germany, kohlrabi is very commonly used, but other countries are not very familiar with it yet. At the PMA in Atlanta, we handed out kohlrabi sticks of this variety under the name 'Kool Robbi', and they were very popular."

Finally, at the trade show in Madrid, Bejo promoted onions in a bunch from short-day plant onions in three colours. "In Spanish supermarkets, these are hugely popular at the moment, and we also want to start promoting them at Fruit Logistica. It's not an actual bundled onion, but we say we bundle it. We also do that in combination with other colours. They are sold like bunched carrots, for instance," says Bejo Iberica's director. "And the product is used in its entirety. The onion mainly for salads, and the neck goes in the soup!"

For more information:

Christiaan Reijnders
Bejo Iberica
Calle del heridero, 15
28750 San Agustin de Guadalix
Madrid
Tel: +34 91 658 70 72
c.reynders@bejo.es
www.bejo.es