Come the 'baby kiwi': eat a bite... to 24 euros per kilo

we Visited the first farm of 'baby kiwi' of Spain, located in Extremadura. This exclusive mini-version of the tropical fruit, which is eaten with skin, as it swept among the gourmets

"people don't want or don't have time to peel the fruit. We live in a time of much stress and a lot of work and the baby kiwi is a solution, very comfortable, healthy and quick. You eat a bite, skin and all, and don't stain. And it is a little sweeter than the kiwi that we all know". Thus describes this boccato di cardinale the farmer Emilio of the Street, the updated version of a tropical fruit rich in fiber, converted into a version of minimal, forces you to be careful when eating it because, according to continues to this expert, virtually acquired "vice and eaten as if they were pipes".

"It is very much used in airplanes, in offices, in restaurants, but also sold in supermarkets in Europe, particularly in France and Germany. In Spain, only in some large area in the Gourmet section," he admits.

In Spain the first farms, baby kiwis, a hectare in total, are in Extremadura. Media has a property José María Martín Berrocoso in the population of Losar de la Vera. The other half is located only 10 km from the first, in the locality cacereña of Guijo de Santa Barbara, in the sierra de Tormantos, a continuation of the sierra de Gredos. And is the property of Emilio.

This farmer who was engaged before to the maintenance of a factory of brick of pottery is now one of the architects of the success of the baby kiwi in our country: "In 2013, the crisis in construction continued, and I saw that I was going to be unemployed. An expert agronomist friend of mine talked to me about this variety of fruit. I found it very interesting as an alternative because it was not very exploited. I also got in touch with José María, who already had other varieties of kiwi and encouraged me to try it. So I put it in a field of fruit trees for self-consumption that has my father-in-law".

The collection is in the morning, from 08.00 to 14.00 hours, to avoid the heat. "We pulled out four pallets a day. Or a trailer or a tractor can enter, because the plot is small, so that it comes out in carts chiquinines pulled by us. At 15.00 hours is already in a company of Talayuela where it is sorted, packaged, stored at two degrees, together with José María, Losar, and is sent to France," says this farmer.

The best, the richest, will be the ones that only weigh 14 grams, "more or less as a euro currency". "We sold two years ago, a kilo to four euros. It is a good price for us. In supermarkets, the fresh 125 grams, it costs about three euros. Or 24 euros per kilo," he stresses.

yours is a bet on combination of financial and personal since he was dismissed from the factory where he worked the past month of march, at the age of 53, after 19 years in it. "The baby kiwi can be my future," he explains, hoping the farmer, who has already internalized that this fruit is a delicatessen. The next February, podarán the plants, in march, will sprout the shoots that will bloom in may and will pick fruit in September. "We do everything by hand," affects, "as if the client well and bring you directly to the mouth".

According to the criteria of