"Boasting 11 years of experience in the specialised cultivation of passion fruit, our company's roots delve into a family farming tradition now in its fourth generation. We have skilfully combined this solid background with an innovative approach to agribusiness, testified by our constant search for quality and sustainability," reports Antonio Moscato, founder of Sicilian Passion, a strictly organic company based in the heart of the Sicilian coastal agricultural area in Licata (AG) and which, today, represents a point of reference for the island's passion fruit production and marketing. This particular location is characterised by temperatures that never fall below 6 °C and therefore represents an ideal environment for growing this plant.
"Our orchards cover 15 hectares. The company is actively involved in programmes for the application of regenerative cultivation techniques, demonstrating a profound attention to environmental protection and soil fertility in the long term. This strategic choice not only responds to the growing demands of a sustainability-conscious market, but also results in a final product of high organoleptic quality."
"The intrinsic characteristics of the soil complete a very favourable framework of production conditions, contributing significantly to the development of a fruit with a distinctive flavour which is highly appreciated by exotic fruit experts. Hence the idea of diversifying the business with passion fruit puree. Our strong point is that we guarantee customers produce that ripens on the plants, which consequently boasts all the best organoleptic characteristics. That is why, for the past two years, we have also been dealing with requests from the artisanal processing industry."
Antonio Moscato
The extracted pulp maintains an excellent quality in organoleptic terms. Specifically, the fruit is characterised by a firm flesh and a high Brix level of 18/19°. The high sugar content means fruits are particularly sweet and aromatic, so they are sought after by the market.
"Of course, we have had to equip ourselves with a processing line to obtain the semi-finished product. In order to guarantee the highest quality, in fact, the process takes place entirely at our company starting with the extraction of the pulp, which is immediately broken down to be packaged in special containers. This is the result of a considerable investment to automate the process, but we are now in a position - compared to the hand extraction work we used to do - to produce about 30 tonnes of passion fruit pulp per year."
The puree line is also a smart solution to recover the products that cannot be sold fresh (mainly for aesthetic reasons) while guaranteeing high-quality standards for food companies. The puree is sold in 5, 10, and 20 kg tubs, meeting the different needs of professional customers.
"The quality of the final product is highly performing both in aesthetic and organoleptic terms. Our customers include high-quality fruit juice and ice-cream production companies throughout Italy. The commercial outlets for the fresh produce are the specialised distribution and H&R channels. The latter absorbs the entirety of our processed product. We would like to point out that, in our company, all the passion fruit pulp comes from organic products with no added sugar, preservatives, or anything else: it is just passion fruit pulp."
For more information:
Sicilian Passion
Via D. Scarlatti, n 5
92027 Licata (AG) - Italy
+39 3293114674
sicilian.p18@gmail.com
www.sicilian-passion.com