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Photo Sorrentine lemons
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Fresh Sorrentine Lemons
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Fresh Sorrentine Lemons
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FRESH SORRENTINE LEMONS PGI
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The Sorrentine lemon has a "Protected Geographical Indication"
The cultivation of lemons on the Sorrentine Peninsula has thousands of years of history. Here is a widely grown cultivar that takes the name of the area: Sorrento's "common oval Femminello lemon", a lemon citrine yellow in colour, with a skin of medium thickness, rich inessential oils, with a strong, intense aroma and perfume and full of juice.
The presence of the lemons in the whole coastal area of Campania has been recorded since time immemorial. Splendid lemon trees are depicted in paintings and mosaics that came to light during the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, cities destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
While lemons continued to be cultivated on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Medieval and modern times, the spread of this specialised cultivation began in some Jesuit foundations such as the "Gesł" di Massa Lubrense and the "Cocumella" di Sant'Agnello.
In the eighteenth century demand for lemons increased in northern Europe and in the nineteenth century they broke into the North American markets. Lemons are in demand because of their many properties beneficial to the body: they increase its natural defences, act as detoxicants, purify the blood, have anti-rheumatic properties and reduce blood pressure. The highest levels of production and exports to foreign markets were recorded in the early twentieth century. Thus the demand for the Sorrentine lemon spread throughout the western world.
The oval Sorrentine lemon is not a defined cultivar but the result of breeding from the best and most widespread species on the Sorrentine coast. It flowers frequently and, if the winter cold did not intervene, it would flower almost continually throughout the year.
Thanks to the efforts of the Solagri Cooperative, which today brings together about 350 producers, the European Union has recognised the specific nature of the Sorrentine Lemon and its long history in the area and safeguards it with its 'Protected Geographic Indication, or PGI, mark.
Solagri and four processing companies have founded the Consorzio di tutela del Limone di Sorrento igp.(Consortium for the Protection of the Sorrentine Lemon PGI)
The production area for the Sorrentine Lemon includes most of the territory covered by the Comuni (District Councils) of Vico Equense, Meta, Piano di Sorrento, Sant'Agnello, Sorrento, Massa Lubrense, Capri and Anacapri. In this area the Sorrentine Lemon is cultivated according to a strict discipline which provides for the use of traditional techniques and a places severe limitations on the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
Today the area covered by lemon plantations is about 400 hectares and while the total lemon harvest is estimated to be around 6,000 tonnes only about 2,000 of these are of the PGI product.
The protection of the PGI mark extends to the processed products too and thus the excellent characteristics of the fresh fruit pass into marmalades, liqueurs, and oil based seasonings. Among the processed products prepared using the Sorrentine lemons, the most widely distributed is definitely Limoncello. Today the producer companies are important to the economy of the whole area. The certificated production in 2004 was 3,225,000 bottles or 2,106,000 litres.
Finally it should be stressed that the protection and revival of the Sorrentine lemon also protects and makes good use of the environment, the land, the rural culture and contributes to the entire economy of the area.
The following is the list of the companies that founded the Consorzio di tutela Limone di Sorrento igp:
Casoni S.p.A. - Limoncello di Capri - Piemme - Solagri s.c. - Villa Massa
The protection of the Sorrentine lemon PGI
The protection of the Sorrentine lemon is a very special kind of protection compared with that of all the European Union's other PGI products because it covers not only the fresh lemons as naturally produced but also the processed lemons. In other words, the law also protects the Sorrentine lemon when it goes to the factory to be made into a liqueur, marmalade, ice-cream or soap. It follows from this that the real guarantee of a product lies in the quality of its ingredients.
Companies that want to write on their labels that their liqueur, their marmalade, their perfume or their soap is made with Sorrentine lemons must use the certified Sorrentine lemons in their products.
The body responsible for the protection if PGI products must be vigilant about fraudulent ones and has the power to report them to the competent authority and to the Consorzio di tutela Limone di Sorrento igp. It is recognised by the Italian Mintistry of Agriculture and Forestry as a branch operating in the area.
We should not forget that the protection of the "Sorrentine lemon" means guaranteeing a complex economic and social system that involves peasants, agronomists, those responsible for quality, transporters etc.
An eye on the label!
- The Protected Denomination mark must appear on the packages of fresh lemons that you buy from the
greengrocer, from the market or from the supermarket
- in the case of processed products, limoncello or marmalade for example, that are named on the label as "Limoncello made with Sorrentine lemons", "Limonetta made with Sorrentine lemons", or "Sorrentine lemon marmalade", they are only truly original if it is clearly stated on the label that they were produced at a location on the Sorrentine Peninsula or the island of Capri.
- On the same label, "Sorrentine lemons" PGI must be listed among the ingredients and the percentage of lemons used must be specified.
- For example, if you buy a "Sorrentine lemon" liqueur, ensure that the proportion of Sorrentine lemons used is 250 grams or more per litre.
- Finally, check that no aromas or other additives appear among the ingredients.
- The presence on the label or in the packaging of the mark "Sorrentine lemons" PGI guarantees the origin of the product still further.
- A final guarantee is the presence on the label of the mark "Is.me.cert." which shows that the rules of production have been observed and that this has been checked.
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