Glamour Cherries, the ‘Ferrari’ of the cherry world, are the only cherries harvested anywhere in the world between March and April. This outstanding stone fruit from producer Rio Cinca will be available exclusively at Spinneys in April. We chatted with commercial director Oscar Ortiz to learn more
Sometime in early 2000, cherry farmers around the world began hearing reports about how their counterparts in the US and France were growing cherries in greenhouses.
“We decided to do the same with 10 trees in a very rudimentary greenhouse in Lleida, Spain,” says Oscar Ortiz, commercial director. “But the outcome was less than desirable. We harvested only 10 cherries and they were not sweet.”
However, one factor about the greenhouse experiment surprised everyone – the cherries were ready to be picked by 15 April, nearly a month before they were harvested anywhere else in the world. Buoyed by this, the team tried again the next year. This time, they built a 5,000 square-metre greenhouse as a research base to experiment with more varieties. Their goal: to produce an early crop of outstanding quality.
“We had to deal with a few years of failure, but in 2004 we were finally rewarded with cherries that had the quality and sweetness we’d set out to achieve. We began marketing these cherries under the brand name Glamour Cherries,” explains Oscar.
Meanwhile, similar trials in other parts of the world had failed to bear fruit, “so in 2010 we patented the production of cherries in greenhouses,” he adds.
Climatic conditions created in the team’s high-tech greenhouses ensure the cherry trees produce fruit with a shiny, deep red skin, sugar levels between 17-20 brix and a crisp, juicy bite. Glamour Cherries are the only variety available anywhere in the world between the second week of March and the third week of April, adding to the brand’s exclusivity and higher price range. And Spinneys is excited to be the only retailer in the region to stock these cherries.
Today, Rio Cinca’s cherry greenhouses cover 70,000 square metres and produce 100 tonnes of fruit. It also harvests open-fields cherries from May to June when the temperature ranges between 7°C-30°C, which allows the fruit to ripen slowy and, thus, achieve optimum sugar levels.
“Our biggest export markets are the UK and France, followed closely by the UAE. This is largely due to the excellent quality and exclusivity of Glamour Cherries,” says Oscar.
Produce category manager Neil Gibson says:
"We are delighted to have secured exclusivity on ‘Glamour’ cherries. We have bought bigger volumes this year and will be offering them at hard-to-beat prices. Please do look out for them in stores and we hope that you enjoy them as much as we do."
