The Agrumaria Corleone at the International Citrus & Beverage Conference

From 10 to 13 September 2019, the ICBC (International Citrus & Beverage Conference) conference was held at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida, an unmissable event for the citrus fruit, juice and beverage industry. This year th event was focused on the marketing of new and emerging products and ingredients.

In the session “The World of Fruit, Juices and Beverages - A Global Perspective”, Chiara Corleone, export sales manager of Agrumaria Corleone S.p.A.

During her speech entitled: “What’s new in Sicily: an overview of Sicilian Citrus specialties", she illustrated the current situation in Sicily, a rich territory with strong contrasts and a mild micro-climate that has produced over time citrus fruits of incomparable quality considered throughout the world to be the best of their kind and particularly sought-after for their organoleptic characteristics.

A decisive role is played by Sicilian growers that have been alaways paying great attention to the quality of the fruits, respecting tradition and the needs of the environment and protecting biodiversity. They have adapted to new market needs, specializing in organic and sustainable production, retaining a strong desire to protect their identity and the link with the local environment.

Chiara focused on the importance of Sicily, describing it as the Italian region with the largest area of organic farming with 360,000 cultivated hectares, with more than 11.000 operators.

“An awareness that in Sicily we deal with a raw material closely linked to the unique characteristics of the territory – says Chiara - enables us to distinguish our activities in international markets by producing "specialities” rather than “commodities” has d led to the birth of a number of PROTECTION CONSORTIA whose function is to highlight and protect these differences with reference, in particular, to the “IGP” (“Indicazione Geografica Protetta” or Protected Geographical Indication) and “DOP” (“Denominazione di Origine Protetta” or Protected Designation of Origin) products such as “Limone di Siracusa IGP” (the IGP Lemon of Syracuse) and “Arancia Rossa di Sicilia IGP” (the IGP Red Orange of Sicily).”

Chiara has listed the distinctive featurs of LIMONE DI SIRACUSA IGPwhich is considered, in terms of quantity and quality, as the primary point of reference for fresh lemons in the Italian and European markets and also of ARANCIA ROSSA DI SICILIA IGP which is another clear example of the close link between climatic factors and the special features of the product.

“The Protection Consortia – Chiara continues - were born mainly to protect fruits destined to the fresh-fruit market. However, Sicilian citrus fruit processors also take advantage as they get fruits of great quality which comes only from the best varieties and is selected according to rigorous standards”.

Citrus fruits are processed by companies such as Agrumaria Corleone S.p.A., one of the leading citrus processors in Italy, located in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Since 1890 Agrumaria Corleone has been producing citrus juices and essential oils as a family business with entrepreneurial capital and technological growth, competing on international markets and capitalising on the human resources, social and environmental aspects of the area, thus adding value to the quality of Sicilian citrus fruits and assisting in the diffusion of their taste and perfume throughout the world.