After years of work seeking Ibizan fruit and vegetable varieties, the agro-food quality promotion technician of the Consell de Ibiza, Josep Lluís Joan, has managed to recover several of the island's indigenous products, some of which had practically been given for missing, and to relaunch their production.
The list includes the vermella eivissenca potato, the meló eriçó (melon), the ceba vermella (red onion) or the tomata de penjar (hanging tomato), which are already marketed under the label Sabors d'Ibiza, variedad tradicional.
In May, another traditional variety that was already considered extinct is going to be officially presented, as Josep Lluís Joan ended up finding it. We are talking about the Ibizan strawberry, "which is very small and very tasty, similar to wild strawberries."
"It is a crop that many people in Ibiza made a living from in the past and which was mostly planted in Pla de Vila. But the plantings stopped in the late seventies and early eighties and the crop was considered extinct," says Joan.
The next step will be to spread this crop on some farms. "There are already three young producers interested in growing them," says Joan. This will be followed by the procedures to get it recognized as a native variety.
Source: diariodeibiza.es