Courgette

The courgette is Almería's fourth protected crop by area and fifth by production and value: the Junta's Observatory counts 7,538 hectares, some 460,600 tonnes and a yield of 6.1 kg/m² for the 2024/2025 season. The province is Andalusia's main producer under cover, and it also concentrates almost the whole Andalusian organic area for the product.

The dominant commercial type is the green courgette — long, cylindrical, from pale to dark green — accounting for 99% of the marketed volume and value; round or white forms remain minorities. On the plant, the matte skin, sturdy peduncle and sometimes a yellow blossom still attached are the signs of freshness. It is picked almost daily: the fruit grows so fast that a single day's delay changes its size grade.

Marketing runs mostly from September to spring, with a smaller summer presence, and the destination is clearly European: 89% of the province's exports went to the European Union in 2024/2025. In local kitchens it remains the base of pisto and the natural companion of papas a lo pobre.