A company from Malaga exports, every year, 6,000 tons of this product and is almost the only company in Spain cultivating it.
In the markets from Malaga it is almost impossible to find it. In France it is an exquisite product to be enjoyed only for a few weeks. It's name is Melon charenteis, or just "French melon". It's round, orange, with a sweet taste that cannot be confused with others and a intense smell that makes the French joyful. Around 6,000 tons are received directly from Málaga, the only place in Spain cultivating this variety. In Spain it is not that well known, but in France is in high demand and well valued, as it is the first in the season to be cultivated naturally and enjoys perfect weather conditions in the area for its development.
Collection is about to start. If Spring imposes itself in the next coming days and the heat comes enough to the fruits to finish maturity, in just two weeks 800 people will dedicate themselves to collecting the melons from the company "Couteleau y Gracía, S.A.". This company has been in the business for more than two decades, cultivating and exporting to France, where "the melon is like smoked ham for us", said Rafael Escalante, agronomy engineer responsible for the company's quality.
When they are ready to departure, some 15 trucks will leave daily to France, with 20,000 kilos of melons each. But right now, melons are still waiting, involved in the plastics that build the "mini-greenhouses" that take 400 hectares dispersed by 60 farms owned by this company and distributed in the plains of Guadalhorce. The particularities and advantages of this cultivation system, unusual in other species and places, are many, despite the hard work and being more costly than others. Every year, they need 300 tons of plastic to plant the melons and achieve the natural taste that makes it so popular in France. Cipriano del Río, in charge of the personnel in the company, explained that with this cultivation technique they can advance the production "but in a natural way, because by not being in contact with the soil there's no need for so many herbicides and, at the same time, the plant can be in contact with the weather conditions as it grows".
Soft climate and not so cold or high temperatures are the secret for a campaign to be good regarding production. That's why, this kind of melon is planted by the end of January and it's collection starts in May. But this year, Marc Philippe Pouvreau, quality responsible, says that collection is delayed by 10 days due to frosts in February and the heat the fruit needs is still to come, "like the auxiliary fauna that helps us by eating the aphids, our main enemy in this season". But the worst is that after so much work and effort during a whole year to get an abundant and valued production in the foreign market, they face robberies and they fear it can get worst this year.
Source: Málaga hoy
In the markets from Malaga it is almost impossible to find it. In France it is an exquisite product to be enjoyed only for a few weeks. It's name is Melon charenteis, or just "French melon". It's round, orange, with a sweet taste that cannot be confused with others and a intense smell that makes the French joyful. Around 6,000 tons are received directly from Málaga, the only place in Spain cultivating this variety. In Spain it is not that well known, but in France is in high demand and well valued, as it is the first in the season to be cultivated naturally and enjoys perfect weather conditions in the area for its development.
Collection is about to start. If Spring imposes itself in the next coming days and the heat comes enough to the fruits to finish maturity, in just two weeks 800 people will dedicate themselves to collecting the melons from the company "Couteleau y Gracía, S.A.". This company has been in the business for more than two decades, cultivating and exporting to France, where "the melon is like smoked ham for us", said Rafael Escalante, agronomy engineer responsible for the company's quality.
When they are ready to departure, some 15 trucks will leave daily to France, with 20,000 kilos of melons each. But right now, melons are still waiting, involved in the plastics that build the "mini-greenhouses" that take 400 hectares dispersed by 60 farms owned by this company and distributed in the plains of Guadalhorce. The particularities and advantages of this cultivation system, unusual in other species and places, are many, despite the hard work and being more costly than others. Every year, they need 300 tons of plastic to plant the melons and achieve the natural taste that makes it so popular in France. Cipriano del Río, in charge of the personnel in the company, explained that with this cultivation technique they can advance the production "but in a natural way, because by not being in contact with the soil there's no need for so many herbicides and, at the same time, the plant can be in contact with the weather conditions as it grows".
Soft climate and not so cold or high temperatures are the secret for a campaign to be good regarding production. That's why, this kind of melon is planted by the end of January and it's collection starts in May. But this year, Marc Philippe Pouvreau, quality responsible, says that collection is delayed by 10 days due to frosts in February and the heat the fruit needs is still to come, "like the auxiliary fauna that helps us by eating the aphids, our main enemy in this season". But the worst is that after so much work and effort during a whole year to get an abundant and valued production in the foreign market, they face robberies and they fear it can get worst this year.
Source: Málaga hoy