The harvest of bitter oranges, in the heart of Monaco, has begun
“Every year, I come to get my bitter oranges and I make jam. 30 pots at least for the whole year. I spend a week there to cook everything“. Marcelle, Monegasque and resident of the Condamine district, is a regular. She would not miss, for all the gold in the world, the distribution of bitter oranges. Like hundreds of inhabitants of the principality, she comes directly to the feet of sour orange trees looking for its winter fruits.”We have nearly 600 trees in Monacodistributed in several districts, explains Marcello Asplanato, from the urban planning department. In all we collect more than 7.5 tons of oranges on La Condamine, Le Larvotto and Monte-Carlo.”
“It’s like a village!”
The fruits are given to the inhabitants but most of them are transformed by a local company which makes wine and liqueur. Another part goes to the technical school which will transform the oranges into jam. A short circuit for the principality and more conviviality. “The grannies find their oranges and in return, they give the city gardeners jars of jam or sometimes even make us cakes. It’s nice, it’s a village!” admits all smiles Marcello Asplanato. The harvest will be spread over 15 days and will also consist of pruning the trees. This year, it will not need it too much because the drought has passed through there and has made the sour orange trees suffer, although they are not afraid of a lack of water. Bitter oranges are also affected. They are sometimes smaller than normal.