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
Season
No hillsides of loquat groves
The loquat groves that shape the Andalusian landscape lie on the Granada coast and in Málaga; Almería has never had hillsides like those. Here the tree appears on a small scale, with its dense crown and large dark leaves — an occasional presence among other fruit trees, not a farming horizon.
Racing the calendar
The loquat's whole economy comes down to being first, while fresh fruit is still scarce. In Almería the tree is grown on small plots and the harvest fits into a few weeks, picked with care because the ripe fruit bruises at the slightest touch. The trials under plastic chase exactly that: a few more days' head start.
