From tree to table
Why this shop doesn’t stock everything all year round, why the fruit doesn’t all look alike, and why that’s exactly what we’re after.
What happens to an orange before it reaches a shop
The fruit on sale today is picked early so that it will stand up to transport and storage. After that it spends a long time in cold stores, followed by washing and waxing that keep its moisture at the cost of its character.
This chain of middlemen —warehouses, distributors and retailers— is only after making the fruit last longer, regardless of the flavour it loses on the way. The cost of that inefficiency ends up cutting the grower’s margin and raising the price for the customer.
Here the order is reversed
Your order comes first; the fruit is cut afterwards. That changes everything else.
1 · You place the order
You choose from what's available that week, which is what's at its peak. If you want several things in the same box, just say so.
2 · It's cut that day
Your box doesn't come out of a cold store: it's picked in the field the day the order is prepared, and sealed without washing or waxing.
3 · It sets off to your door
Straight from Albalat de la Ribera, with no warehouses or distribution centres. It's with you within 24 or 48 hours on working days.
And what we choose not to do
Almost everything that makes this fruit different is things that aren’t done to it.
No cold storage
No fruit sitting in storage waiting for a buyer. If there are no orders, the fruit stays on the tree, which is where it's best off.
No waxing
Nothing is applied after picking. That's why the peel can be zested, and why a leaf sometimes turns up in the box.
No middlemen
From the person who grows it to the person who eats it. What you pay stays in the fields, instead of being shared out along the chain.
We don't stock everything
There are no oranges in August. We'd rather say so than sell one out of a cold store or bought from someone else to fill the catalogue.
What "in season" means here
More than a marketing strategy, it is the honest pulse of the land. Our catalogue isn’t dictated by a trend, but by the farming calendar.
Mandarins open the season in September and last until May, and oranges run from November to July: a living cycle in which one variety follows another, starting with Navelina and finishing with Valencia Late, the one for juice. Persimmon is with us from October to December. And the vegetables from the market garden take turns all year round: aubergine, peppers and hot peppers in summer and autumn; Chinese cabbage, artichoke and squash from autumn to spring.
That is why our range changes of its own accord, showing only what is being picked by hand at this very moment. If you are missing some fruit, write to us: we will gladly tell you when it is next picked.
What's in this week
If you’ve read this far, the rest is better seen in the catalogue. And if you want to know who’s behind it, that’s in About us.
