You wouldn’t readily associate Picota cherries with algebra, or Aristotle, but one popular theory in the Jerte Valley is that, like the latter two, the variety owes its presence in Spain to Arab rule over the Iberian peninsular during the middle ages.
The curious origins of the Picota cherry befit what is a curious variety, with many eccentricities. Picked by families on terraced hillsides in the Extremadura region using nothing more than a ladder and a basket, sold in the supermarkets for just one pound in the UK, and noticeably without their stems – the Picota is a brand that has numerous points of difference.
It’s something the Picota’s production co-operative Agrupación de Cooperativas Valle del Jerte, with the support of Cooperativa Del Campo Navaconcejo, is looking to put front and centre as it aims to bolster sales in an increasingly crowded market. Having begun marketing Picotas in the UK in 2000, growers are looking to see the brand kick on and make new waves in the industry.
Agrupación’s commercial director Pedro García says: “It takes time; we started in 2000, but we think the real results will be in 2019 onwards. We are developing in other countries like Denmark, Italy, some of Scandinavia, and Austria, but you need continuity to explain what Picota is, so the really important international market for us now and in the future is the UK.”
It’s likely too that Agrupación recognises it must up its marketing game with cherries becoming a real power player in the global fruit industry. García feels Picota’s brand has the qualities to stand out from the crowd however.
With over 3,500 growers, the Jerte Valley produces about 6,000 tonnes of the fruit each year, between mid-June and early August. Between 1.2 million and 2m kg goes to Britain, and approximately 30 to 50 per cent of the total crop is exported from Spain. Interestingly, the Picota doesn’t grow outside of the Jerte Valley, for reasons no one has figured out yet.
The variety is noticeable before even opening the punnet. It is picked without its stalk, leaving the stem naturally on the tree, and the cherry itself has enviable characteristics, making it one of the most reliable fruits on the market, García says.
“It is sweet with a high level of brix, it’s crunchy, and it has a shelf life of about two weeks, sometimes more. It’s in the supermarket within four days. We have one of the lowest rates of complaints in the UK, close to zero per cent,” García says. The Picota’s quality is surprising considering picking methods have barely changed in decades. Typically, the trees are grown by families, and as mentioned the cherries are picked using no more than a ladder and a basket tied round their necks.
No grower will say what they do is easy, but it is a robust setup, and without the kinds of problems facing UK growers. Labour is expensive for them too, but most families will only employ a few workers if they need to, so shortages are not common. Inputs are also low, and the trees are well adapted to the climate. The sustainability of the trees is another string to the marketing bow that García is eager to promote.
“It’s traditional work, it’s not intensive work, it’s not industrialised, it’s more families hand picking them,” he says. “Our ecosystem and environment is in balance with the economy, we don’t force anything, we contribute to the sustainability of the area.”
Naturally, the core concern for growers is the bottom line, and as an early variety, they are keenly aware of other early cherries on the market. This year, the mood is good in the valley, as rival growers in Greece and Turkey suffered bad seasons, leaving the Picota in a stronger position.
Describing the cherry market this year, one grower on the hillside of the Jerte Valley, Miguel Alonso Dominguez says: “This year we have a really good production, we are getting the same price for half a kilo that we got for one kilo last year.”
Nevertheless, UK shoppers will still find them priced at one pound per punnet, or less, in supermarket shelves. With other punnets of early cherries commanding twice that, its price is another eccentricity of the Picota, but one the Agrupación is hoping to change.
“The one-pound punnet was a good idea 20 years ago, but it’s been fixed in the mind of buyers,” García says. “It’s a difficult barrier to cross because everybody has in mind this price. We want to move forward, we are giving something different to other cherries. We want to say this is special, and it’s expensive to pick. It is different and unique so lets change the price.”
García believes that the price suffers from Picota being used by retailers to attract shoppers to the cherry category at the start of summer, effectively paving the way for other varieties to command higher prices later. “They use the price and its quality to get people into the supermarket to buy Picota and other products.”
Part of what makes the low price possible are the valley’s state-of-the-art packhouses, where all cherries in the valley are sorted and sent off around Europe. Agrupación has the largest cherry packhouse in Europe, and it would be hard to find anything larger in the world. Four giant sorting lines sprawl across the site, which employs 1,000 people at its peak. Equipped with optical quality control and robotic pallet packers, thousands of kilos of cherries are packed every day. It’s a striking contrast with the traditional production methods in the valley’s ancient terraced orchards.
The one-pound punnet is one battle the Agrupación will face as it looks to develop and grow the brand. Another battle might be over upholding the brand’s Protected Designation of Origin from counterfeit Picotas, something García says are common, particularly in southern Spain.
“When you see a very big cherry without a stalk, you have a high possibility that it’s a fake Picota,” he says. “We could register Picota as a copyrighted brand in Europe, but not in Spain because it’s a general word.” García is optimistic, however, adding: “We are close to winning the fight”.
García is also aiming to standardise the Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) logo as a guarantee of provenance. “We are pushing in the big supermarkets like Mercadona, Eroski, and Lidl to generalise the logos. If you have a DOP logo, there’s no confusion.”
García makes the parting point that Brexit might in fact help the Picota, owing to its extended shelf life, ideal for negotiating any potential friction at the border.
“If we get a hard Brexit, the only cherry that can resist the restrictions on the border is the Picota cherry because of the shelf life,” he says. “We are the only cherry that can be sold in the supermarket without refrigeration, competing with other cherries’ production.”
