"Renewed appreciation for grapes with seeds needed"

If fruit and vegetable consumption is to grow, there needs to be a reappraisal of seasonal fruit. According to Jan Prinsen of the Belgian Fresh Food Institute, retail attention to European seasonal produce, and grapes in particular, has declined sharply in recent years.

© Belgian Fresh Food InstituteJan inspects grapes in Italy

"That's a pity, because fruit is always at its tastiest in season. The price is also lower than out of season," he stresses.

For a long time, Belgium was the country where the best Italian grapes were sent. "You used to see the best brands in Belgian retail, like Orchidea, Giuliano, Imperatore, and so on. We are now in the peak season for the beautiful golden yellow Italia grape with its fine muscat flavour."

As a former retail buyer, Jan has a lot of experience in buying and selling. "Every year we visited the production in Puglia, and it was clear that the most beautiful and delicious grapes came to Belgium. In the Netherlands, we never saw many of the tasty grapes with pips being sold."

Seedless is gaining ground at the expense of taste and knowledge
According to Jan, the fact that fewer grapes are sold in season in Belgium these days is due to the rise of seedless grapes. "As a result, we actually sell fewer grapes in season," he says.

"Yet pitted grapes are tasty and particularly healthy because they contain many polyphenols, and we tend to forget that," says Jan. "If you, as a consumer, still want to buy the tasty and beautiful Italian grapes with pips (with lots of polyphenols), then it's best to go to the market or a specialist shop."

"Those often also have the top Belgian grape, Leopold III. It is particularly beautiful, tasty, and, fortunately, also has pips. But it is expensive and therefore not accessible to everyone."

Keeping stem knowledge
Another part of the explanation, according to Jan, lies in the changing purchasing structures in retail. "Retailers themselves now have very few dedicated fruit buyers," says Jan. To keep knowledge about grapes alive, he developed a special brochure, Training for grapes. This brochure contains tips on buying and selling.

"It is important for a retailer to be able to answer the question of whether it is the right time to sell grapes, and not be dependent on a supplier. The latter mainly looks at his own returns and turnover. Good product knowledge is needed to determine whether your supplier has really delivered fresh grapes."

Click here to download the grape training brochure.

"This brochure required a lot of time. I even travelled specially to Puglia with my wife Rita to take photos," Jan concludes. Here are some more photos Jan took.

For more information
Jan Prinsen
Belgian Fresh Fruit Institute
Lucien Reychlerstraat 53
9250 Waasmunster, Belgium
[email protected]
www.belgianfreshfoodinstitute.be