Research

A maxim for Todolí Citrus Fundació and its founder, Vicente Todolí, is to create and share knowledge, which has become a key element of the Fundació’s role in our society. This thinking involves putting research at the center of numerous projects.

The raison d’être of the Foundation is to make the biodiversity contained in the Citrus Collection available to society as a whole. The research in which it participates covers different levels: scientific, agronomic, gastronomic, industrial, artistic…

Scientific research is framed on the one hand in Collaboration Agreements signed with entities such as the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) or the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (INIA). On the other hand, in occasional collaborations with organizations such as the Universitat de València (UV), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) or the Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de los Alimentos (IATA). This activity has allowed us to participate in research projects and co-direct research work in the form of Final Degree Projects (TFG) or Master’s Degree Projects (TFM) with the researcher Juan A. Llorens Molina of the UPV.

The agronomic research carried out to date at the Fundació has focused on two main aspects. Firstly, pest control studies without the use of pesticides, which include the use of biological control (in collaboration with the company Bichelos, Control Biológico S.L.) and the use of attraction/capture traps, with the collaboration of the Servicio de Sanidad Vegetal de la Conselleria de Agricultura (Generalitat Valenciana). Secondly, we are conducting a study on the effect of ozone on citrus cultivation. Given the configuration of the El Bartolí Botanical Garden, this study will help us to test the effect of ozone on species of all citrus varietal groups. This study is being subsidized by the Generalitat Valenciana through the Fincas Colaboradoras program, and has the support of the company Cosemar Ozono, S.L and the IVIA.

The link between Todolí Citrus and the world of gastronomy is long and goes beyond the creation of the Foundation. Throughout these years, numerous chefs and restaurants have shown interest in investigating the gastronomic possibilities of many of our varieties, both in the Laboratory located in the Foundation itself, as well as in their own bakeries.

The use of citrus fruits in industry dates back to its origins, and this tradition is particularly evident in countries such as Japan, Italy, China… La Fundació has a Museum that shows a sample of this link. In Spain, the world’s leading exporter of fresh fruit, the development of third-, fourth- and fifth-range citrus products has been more limited, except perhaps in the world of juices. At Todolí Citrus we promote business R&D for the inclusion of citrus fruits in products as diverse as chocolate, gin, beer, potatoes, soaps, etc.

Within agri-food research, Todolí Citrus is developing citrus jams (second range), produced with fruits from the Collection, without the use of preservatives or colorants and with a minimum content of added sugars. We currently have 20 different jams and one preserved in syrup.

If there is a relationship between Todolí Citrus Fundació and gastronomy, it is even more evident with the world of art. Thus, many artists have come to our headquarters to make citrus fruits and the landscape created in El Bartolí, the subject of their studies and works. Artists such as Carles Tarrassó whose work explores new configurations of the gastronomic at the intersection between cuisine and other disciplines such as sculpture and installation, investigates with the use of citrus fruits in his work using them as part of his artistic language. Or Julie C. Fortier, whose work is built around the processes of olfactory perception and memory and whose work Citrus Mundi Series, 2020 uses essential oils extracted from citrus fruits of the Foundation, creating 7 olfactory drawings.

In addition to the physical use of citrus fruits in their work, other artists have also been inspired by the environmental character of the project presided over by Vicente Todolí, developing works that will be integrated in one way or another and will form part of the whole and the experience of the visit to Todolí Citrus Fundació. All of them are projects in which inspiration is accompanied by research and scientific rigor. Among others we can find works by artists such as: Carsten Holler, Lothar Baumgarten, Miralda, Carmen Calvo…