Anyone tasted Mollar de Elche?

[greenfig]

I haven’t read about it growing in the US.
How does it compare to Sirenevyi or Fleshman?

[greenfig]

Found this article
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/1/156

[alanmercieca]

The 'Alabama Pomegranate Association' used to have 'Mollar De Elche', yet they lost all but one variety of pomegranate to disease, and 'Mollar De Elche' was not the surviving variety.

This is from my notes

"Mollar De Elche - Famous Spanish variety, from the town of Elche, in Valencia, Spain. Pinky – red skinned fruit, very sweet, juicy, & soft seeded.

The Elche disctrict (known as Campo de Elche), with neighbouring Crevillent and Albatera, is Europe's pomegranate land. For over 1000 years the best and most valued pomegranates have grown in these lands. According to recent research, the Tender "Mollar" Elche variety, an endemic local pomegranate tree, produces pomegranates of extra high antioxidant content.

Granada Mollar de Elche is a pomegranate grown in the in the province of Alicante in the south-east of the Autonomous Community of Valencia. This type of pomegranate is known for its unique characteristics that differentiate it from other varieties; Granada de Elche is particularly sweet and has an intense color that comes from its high content of anthocyanin, the antioxidant pigment found in this fruit.

This variety, in addition to its intense flavor, has a soft seed that makes it easier to eat. This 'superfruit' is extremely popular worldwide, so it comes as no surprise that more than 70% of production is for export.

Mollar de Elche pomegranates moved a step closer to obtaining their own geographical designation this week after the Official Journal of the European Union published a document setting out the specifications for a Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) for ‘Granada Mollar de Elche/Granada de Elche’.

The variety is known for its exceptional sweetness, soft edible seeds and external colour which ranges from cream to deep red.

Franciso Oliva, president of the Association of Producers and Marketers of Pomegranates from Elche, hailed it as “an historic event for Elche, for the people living in the geographical zone set out by the PDO and above all for producers and all those that make up the agricultural sector”.

“Now we can proudly say that we elevated the value of this product, and that thanks to the hard work carried out by the association, we have succeeded in protecting this variety, guaranteeing its future and boosting its profile in international markets,” Oliva said.

Around 90 per cent of Spain’s Mollar production is centred around Elche and the surrounding áreas incoporated in the DOP (Baix Vinalopó, L’Alacantí and Vega Baja).

In total there are some 3,000ha of orchards producing around 50,000 tonnes of the fruit a year. The season runs from October to February

Mollar De Elche - Famous Spanish variety, from the town of Elche, in Valencia, Spain. Pinky – red skinned fruit, sweet, juicy, & soft seeded.

Elche mollar grenade has characteristics and qualities that differentiate it from the rest of grenades. It stands out for its particular sweetness, its nugget is soft (practically not appreciated and is edible) and its exterior color is a natural whim because it can range from cream to deep red depending on the exposure that the fruit has had on the tree.

dies below minus 12 degree celsius."


I got most of that from the following websites, in the past, years ago, I forget when

https://www.tasteatlas.com/granada-mollar-de-elche

https://www.fruitnet.com/eurofruit/moll ... 96.article

https://www.granadaselche.com/the-pomegranate

https://www.21food.com/products/fresh-m ... 32239.html

https://www.facebook.com/alabamapomegra ... 789828379/

[greenfig]

Awesome, thanks!
How come it’s not that popular in the US?

[alanmercieca]

You are welcome.

That is a very good question, and I have no idea why 'Mollar De Elche' is not popular in the USA, although I wonder if it might have to do with the Wonderful pomegranate dominating the grocery store, and the department store shelves for such a long time, in a lot of states all people knew was the Wonderful variety, there are still a lot of people that think all pomegranates have red skin, and hard seeds, despite the pomegranate collector movement. Also a lot of the pomegranate varieties that are going around came from either the Germplasm, or were found in California, and some even created by hybridization. 'Mollar De Elche' never wound up in the Germplasm, or in California for whatever reasons, despite it being so popular. I am puzzled as to why myself. It's sad that the one which 'Alabama Pomegranate Association' had perished.

[pombazaar]

I remember one of the first discussions on this site was about Mollar de Elche. A commercial grower from Australia with 600 Mollar de Elche trees commented, recommending against it due to poor/no production yield. Of course region and and soil conditions play a major role on the outcome so take that into account when reading this post: viewtopic.php?p=56#p56

I also agree with Alan's comment about Wonderful being the dominant variety found in US grocery stores. Wonderful is the main cultivar of the US because it's large, attractive, and has a very high juice yield. All positives for commercial growers. Personally I have little interest in growing Mollar de Elche or Wonderful even if climate conditions in my zone were perfect and I'll tell you why.

The commercial varieties just don't interest me. Everybody knows about Wonderful but few know anything about Dorosht 5 hahanshahi Khoramabad, Kaim-anor, or 32/30 for example. I'm much more interested in taking a gamble at wasting 3-4 years growing a variety that is basically unknown to most people, knowing that it may very well be below par...or find out that it's a hidden gem. That's my take, but I know for most production and juice quality are #1 on the priority list.

[alanmercieca]

Here in North Carolina it seems like each year there are new varieties of pomegranates than the year before, available from the stores during the California pomegranate season, and I think that is where they come from during the California pomegranate season. Although we can find pomegranates in some of the stores here 'year round', outside of the California pomegranate season they come from South America.