Editor’s Note
This article highlights three winter cauliflower varieties—Basento, Benidorm, and Cilento—showcased at Bejo’s Open Days. While suitable for fresh markets, they are especially recommended for processing thanks to their favorable weight and high compactness.
This year, one of the focal points at Bejo’s Open Days has been these three winter cauliflower varieties: Basento (already known), Benidorm, and Cilento. They range from shorter to longer cycle, in that order. Although suitable for both fresh market and processing, they are particularly recommended for processing due to their good weight and high compactness.
At the El Aljibe Farm (Valladolises-Murcia), attendees could see the productive potential and field performance of these materials, as well as appreciate their characteristics, which are quite similar among the three: firmness, color, and curd quality.
In the cabbage segment, another highly notable variety was Red Power, a red pointed cabbage described as “like no other on the market”. Its vibrant color and high production are its main calling cards. Bejo introduced it last year and has since seen high interest from growers.
Red Power presents itself as an innovative alternative for both the food industry and the fresh market, thanks to a set of characteristics that clearly differentiate it. Its field performance is comparable to that of white pointed cabbage, offering very homogeneous production, with uniform head size and excellent resistance. But it is in its processing for the IV Range (fresh-cut) where it shows its greatest virtues. Unlike other red cabbages, Red Power maintains an intense color even after being peeled, avoiding the appearance of lighter or greenish inner leaves. Furthermore, one of its most notable advantages is the absence of anthocyanin exudation, meaning it “does not bleed”, preventing the release of the characteristic red dye that can stain other products in salad mixes.
Regarding its organoleptic quality, “it is much sweeter than a normal red cabbage”, making it more appealing for raw consumption. Its leaves, thinner than those of other varieties, allow for a greater product volume with the same weight, thus optimizing yield for packaged salads. This combination of properties – homogeneity, color stability, sweet flavor, and texture – gives it a “dual aptitude” that positions it as a superior option even compared to red cabbages.
Other pointed cabbages that could be seen at the demo, in this case green, were Diego, notable for its uniform harvest and good field holding ability; and Muraco, focused on processing due to its head size and high yields, although also suitable for fresh market on short days. As an anecdote, visitors could contemplate an impressive 5 kg specimen, which demonstrated the genetic potential and agronomic management applied on the farm.
Although the red cabbage variety Cairo is not new in Bejo’s seed catalog, it is experiencing an unexpected revival. This is not a coincidence, but a response to the challenges posed by climate change, especially in the southeastern peninsula, where summers are becoming “hotter and more extreme”. Faced with this scenario, Cairo has been revived for one fundamental quality: it is “very rustic” and tolerant to extreme heat.