South African citrus has become a hit with Dutch fresh produce providers Jaguar who started selling local lemons under the name Clean Citrus around six months ago.
The company, based in the town of Ridderkerk in western Netherlands, said South African lemons suited their company ethos of bringing chemical-free fruit to consumers interested in sustainable consumption.
The company, which markets itself as “The Fresh Company”, has also introduced a year-round supply of juicing oranges.
It’s all because “the consumer demands a cleaner product”, Jaguar food specialist Sven Thomas said.
It doesn’t mean, however, that so-called untreated citrus is not chemically treated at all.
It only means that in the post-harvesting phase the citrus used by Jaguar is not treated with fungicides.
Pre-harvesting lemons and the like are still protected against threats through the use of insecticides.
But once harvested, the fruit is kept chemical-free to avoid potentially harmful residues when lemon peel is used in cooking or when lemons are squeezed for juicing purposes.
It also makes for safer G&Ts.
