Fresh vegetable processor Parripak Foods has found its “perfect supply partner” for chilli peppers in Genovese Chillies - based in none other than Blunham, Bedfordshire, just 10 miles from Parripak’s own site.
The Genovese family came to the area from Sicily in 1961, when they purchased a nursery and started growing cucumbers and peppers.
In 1998, Salvatore Genovese noticed there was no commercial production of chillies in the UK, so tried his hand at growing them himself.
“He started with a small greenhouse and a few plants, and the first chillies proved a big hit with London customers who had never seen UK chillies before,” said Parripak, which is part of the William Jackson Group.
The family now uses 500,000 bees to pollinate over 60,000 plants on the 4.5-acre site.
The family has built reservoirs to collect rainwater for irrigation, so there is no need for mains water or boreholes.
A state-of-the-art computer system controls the feeding of the plants according to the weather, whilst a weather station outside the greenhouse opens and closes the vents according to the way the wind is blowing.
Parripak joint managing director James Parrish explained the direct benefits of using a local supplier: “Salvatore provides the flexibility and just-in-time service that we need. Because they are literally up the road, we can place our order in the morning and the chillies are picked and delivered on the same day, so they are at their freshest.”
Aside from supplying Parripak with jalapeño and Fresno chillies, which accounts for 30 per cent of his crop, Genovese also supplies the multiples with 10 tonnes of large red and green jalapeño chillies each week.
He said: “Buyers are extremely conscious that their green customers are looking to them to actively reduce food miles, so if they can get chillies at the same price in the UK as abroad, they will buy them.”
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