Caribbean

Uniform quality all year round

I will gladly inform you about Caribbean

Doreen Sieber
Account Manager Retail

Foodservice and retail customers are keen to secure a year-round supply of Canteloupe melons in a consistently high and uniform quality. This is now possible thanks to Rijk Zwaan’s Caribbean range of varieties. The varieties are identifiable by the name and the Caribbean sticker.

Uniform quality all year round

All Caribbean varieties have:

  • bright orange flesh
  • a demonstrably high natural sugar content (Brix)
  • a long shelf life
  • a thin rind
  • a smooth, even skin without indentations
  • a small seed cavity

Consistently high-quality fruits are available all year round thanks to different varieties for winter and summer production.

Good flavour and appearance, efficient processing

The Caribbean varieties ensure that Canteloupes are continuously available with a homogeneous standard of quality. This means that retailers no longer have to disappoint their customers and gives foodservice companies year-round access to a popular ingredient for dishes such as fruit salads. The bright orange flesh and the smooth skin lend the fruits an attractive appearance. These melons taste significantly sweeter than comparable melons.

Thanks to their smooth, thin rind and small seed cavity the Caribbean melons are easy to process and they yield 5 to 10 percent more flesh than regular varieties.

Quality and flavour all year round

According to Levarht, an import and export company based in the Dutch village of De Kwakel, supply chain collaboration is essential for long-term growth. That’s why the company maintains short lines of communication with growers, Rijk Zwaan and retailers. Its aim is to provide retailers with a year-round supply of consistently high-quality products, such as Caribbean melons. For customers in the Middle East, some of those melons come from Honduras and some from Brazil, and now – since the start of a pilot project last year – from Turkey too. Gerbert van Egmond, buying manager at Levarht, explains the importance of this pilot.

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