French stone fruit, melons and market

In the second week of May fruit and vegetable advisor Jan Prinsen of the Belgian Fresh Food Institute visited various regions in France to view the production of stone fruit and melons. He made a lovely photo report when he was there. "The nature and weather conditions in these area were, and still are, good. It was around 20/22 degrees and they've had enough rain this year. The trees and fruit also looked good and healthy. I expect delicious fruit from France this year, the apricot the season is in full swing. In France there are a bit less this year because there has been some hail damage in places. The sizes are good because there is less fruit on the trees."

Peaches and nectarines at the end of June

Prinsen visited the Crau close to Salon de Provence and Saint-Remy de Provence, among others. "It's still the beginning of the peaches and nectarines season there. It won't really get going until the end of June. There wasn't much fruit on the nectarine trees, but they were of good size and will probably get bigger. I also noticed that the grower had thinned out a lot to produce the best calibre. "The region Saint-Gilles close to Nimes and Saint Marie de la mer is the best region in France for apricots.

Click here for the photo report

"Delicious peaches from Chateau Perouse"

Domaine Bayard of Family Favel was also worth a visit, according to Jan. "There were a lot of new trees there. A timely renovation is a good sign." The fruit and vegetable specialist was very enthusiastic about the apricots from Chateau Perouse. "I had those fruits in my car for five days and the quality remained sublime. It's really a family company, belonging to the Riou family. For apricots this is the absolute top quality and unbelievable: these beautiful orange fruits aren't sold in Holland yet. This is really bizarre. They sell a lot in England, Switzerland and Belgium. Holland is missing out, well, according to the grower none are sold directly to Holland. The Swiss eat most apricots. It's important for this fruit that it doesn't after-ripen. They should feel a bit soft, and then they're really tasty and juicy. It's also easy to eat them with your hands: a ripe apricot is easy to split in two to take the stone out," he says enthusiastically.

"Apricots are very healthy and really tasty, but the Belgians and Dutch have not gotten to know the fruit properly. They always taught us to eat the wrong kinds. This really is quality fruit."

Apricots from Chateau Perouse

Jan also visited a few fields of melons and the Maison du Melon Interraube packing station in the Gers. "They were still packaging Spanish Charantais. We will still have to wait a while on the French. It will be another two or three weeks until those in the open ground are properly ripe, I think. This isn't a bad thing, this way the Spanish and French growers wont get in each others way, and we'll get good prices for the producers and the rest of the chain, and they could use it."

Besides visiting fruit growers Jan also visited markets and supermarkets. "There was a lot of attention for the local products there. This was more 'focussed than it used to be. What I also notice is: in the shops and on the beautiful markets there is a much less varied assortment, but a much larger supply of the season articles than in Belgium and Holland. They don't sell everything, but more of it. I think we can learn from this."

Click here for the photo report

Voor meer informatie:
Belgian Fresh Food Institute
Jan Prinsen
Tel: (+32) 0-477 252372