(ANSA) - PALERMO, 01 DEC - The season of the harvest of the Red Orange of Sicily Igp starts on 19 December. As from the consolidated production calendar, the first Sicilian blood oranges to be harvested will be those of the "Moro" variety, immediately after the New Year, from 2 January, it will be the turn of the queen variety, the "Tarocco". Finally, from 10 February the "Sanguinello" oranges will arrive. The consortium for the protection of the Sicilian blood orange says so. "Producers are waiting to change the color of oranges to red and the cold of these last days of November will help our oranges reach the color that characterizes them. It is a question of pigments, oranges are already rich in polyphenols, but we are waiting for anthocyanin turns red,just as our production discipline requires us ", explains the vice president of the Consortium Elena Albertini.
"On Etna the snow appeared only a couple of days ago. The high temperatures we had until late November will allow us to have very sweet blood oranges. The bad weather in recent weeks has not affected production and has not caused production delays and we are proceeding with the same table of march followed in 2020 ", he adds. "The terrible weather conditions - he continues - that have caused so much damage to waterways and citrus groves will not prevent us from having an excellent quality product. The structural problems are evident and must be solved, as well as the problems caused by the diseases against which we are now fighting. years, but our producers and the whole Sicilian Red Orange supply chain, this year too, with self-denial and sacrifice, will guarantee an excellent product,as has already happened even during the grip of the health emergency ".
The provinces involved in the consortium are Catania, Syracuse and in part also Enna.
In the 2020 season, 30 thousand tons of PGI Red Orange were marketed, a slight increase compared to the 29 thousand tons of the previous season.
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