Media: Great British Chefs. com
Título: “The Spanish citrus paradise loved by the UK’s top chefs”
Author: Lauren Fitchett
Date: 14th March 2024
Honeyed, tart, briny, aromatic – citrus is so much more than just sour. We explore a Valencian citrus foundation home to hundreds of rare varieties, and look at how chefs are weaving them into their menus.
With long days of balmy sunshine, a gentle sea breeze and intense humidity, Valencia, on Spain’s east coast, has long been a haven for citrus groves. Vibrant lemon, lime and orange orchards (including those of its most famous Valencia Orange) have flourished there since as far back as the fourteenth century, remaining at the heart of its culture since and contributing significantly to Spain’s title as the world’s biggest exporter of citrus. While that demand may be profitable, it also means that varieties which are prized by supermarkets (including ours; many of the oranges and grapefruits that fill our shelves come from the region) are farmed more intensively, risking the loss of rare, heritage fruits. That’s something Vicente Todolí wants to reverse. Head an hour down the coast, into the small town of Palmera, and you’ll find his Todolí Citrus Foundation, a lush citrus sanctuary working to research, protect and promote niche varieties.
At Todolí there are over five hundred types of citrus fruit grown across 45,000 square metres, mostly made up of lesser-known kinds like the fragrant Borneo lumia (a mix of lemon, pomelo and papeda) and the sweet Valentine pomelo (a cross between a blood orange and mandarin), as well as the more familiar, like calamansi, a small, sour fruit native to the Philippines. There are forty Japanese kinds alone (these are among Vicente’s favourites), including the satsuma-like Kiyomi Tangor. Almost all are hybrids; though we might think we can identify citrus by its look, or taste, it’s rarely that simple – they hybridise easily, leading to hundreds of natural and man-made crosses with a rainbow of aromas and flavours (calamansi is sometimes called the Philippine lime or lemon, but is actually a mix of the kumquat and the mandarin orange). There are few people who understand those nuances better than Vicente, a fifth generation citrus specialist who initially eschewed the family business in favour of the arts, working around the world and spending seven years as the director of the Tate Modern.
