Loquat
The earliest riser of the fruit calendar, picked over a few short weeks of spring. In Almería it is a very minor crop beside the great Andalusian orchards of Granada and Málaga.
While the other fruit trees are barely waking, the loquat is already at the fruit stall: its commercial season lasts a few short weeks of spring, because the ripe fruit bruises easily, and that head start is its whole trade. A Junta study published in 2015 placed 72% of the Andalusian area in Granada and 24% in Málaga; Almería shared the remaining 4% with Cádiz, Córdoba and Seville — dated figures that portray a minor crop in the province rather than its current state.
The Golden Nugget was then the predominant variety in Andalusia. The fruit is small, oval to pear-shaped, a matte orange-yellow with a light down, ending in a brown star-shaped calyx; cut open, the pale bittersweet flesh holds several large, glossy brown seeds — nothing like an apricot. It is eaten plain, peeled on the spot, while the fruit still holds the morning's cool.
In Almería, a university project has trialled loquat earliness under cover, but it is experimental work, not proof of an established sector; nor do any sources tie the fruit especially to the Andarax or to Alhama. Its editorial season stays at April and May — short, which is perhaps why it is so eagerly awaited.
Varieties
- Golden Nugget, historically predominant in Andalusia