琯溪蜜柚 Guanxi Mi You: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:31, 9 December 2016

琯溪蜜柚 Guanxi Mi You is a Chinese (PDO) pomelo.

Description:

With crisp and tender fruit flesh, Guanxi Mi You (Citrus grandis) is full of juice and with a delicious vinegary, sweet flavour. Per 100 ml of juice, the minimum sugar content is 8,5 g, the maximum acid content 1,1 g and the minimum dissolvable solids content 10 %. The fruit contains many minerals and the minimum edible percentage is 55 %.

The fruit is of an inverted oval shape with a flat top and a distinct circular marking around the tip. Its skin is smooth, thin and bright orange (yellowish green at the beginning of harvest). It is known for its unique taste due to its cross-embedded cells, juicy smooth texture and sweet-sour flavour. Each single fruit weighs between 1,000 and 1,750 g. The fruit is evenly coloured orange, with yellowish green at the beginning of harvest. The skin is smooth. The area covered by scars, pesticide stains, bruises and other blemishes or harmed by rust louse should be less than 1/10 of the total skin area. There should be no serious sun-burned spots, signs of pest bruises and mechanically caused injuries, rotten fruit or fruit that could cause rotting.

Specific steps in production that must take place in the identified geographical area:

Garden selection and planting density: red-soil hills, plains, paddy fields and eyots with a thick soil layer, good permeability and an organic content ¥ 1,5 %. 600 trees are planted per hectare. Soil conversion and fertilisation for the young pomelo garden, use interplant green manure, dig channels where green manure can be ploughed in and then apply more organic fertiliser. For the adult pomelo garden, make sure that the ecology and biota in the garden are well protected. All the soils should be fertilised. To meet the growing requirements, apply 12 000 to 15 000 kg of organic fertiliser and 450 to 900 kg of hydrated lime per hectare to keep the soil pH value > 5,0 and organic matter content > 2,0 %. Use both organic and inorganic fertilisers. Organic fertiliser should account for 40 to 50 % of the whole year’s fertiliser spreading. The young trees should be fertilised quite frequently with light fertiliser, using rapidly available nitrogen as the main fertiliser with phosphate and potassium fertilisers as supplements. For the adult trees, heavy fertiliser should be applied after picking. The trees should be well fertilised to promote stem and flower growth. Fruit-protecting and fruit-strengthening fertiliser should also be applied in addition to adding fertiliser before picking.

Proper trimming: pull and shape to promote efficient growth of the young trees. Trim the over-dense branches and those drooping too far or with excessive growth. Adult trees should be trimmed to give them good ventilation and exposure to sunlight. Trimming should be carried out twice a year: once in summer and once in winter. In summer, the trees are trimmed to cut off the insect- infected branches, over-dense branches, drooping branches, branches which cast too much shade and branches which drop too much blossom and fruit. In winter, the trees are trimmed to cut the projecting branches from the tree crown, over-dense branches and insect-infected branches.

Tree girdling: for trees with strong vitality, the trunk or main branch can be girdled from the beginning of November to mid-December. Girdling effectively promotes flower bud differentiation and enhances the flowering rate.

Flower and fruit thinning: this needs to be done in years of heavy blossom. Flower thinning helps to reduce unnecessary consumption of nutrition and therefore benefits fruiting. It should be applied to the anthotaxy first and then to the bud. Fruit needs to be thinned after the end of physiological fruit drop. Fruit of abnormal shape or too small in size should be taken off. This avoids the drop in fruit quality resulting from too many fruit on one tree.

Comprehensive prevention and control against insects, disease and damage: take care to prevent and control pests such as anthracnose, red spider and leaf-mining moths. Attention should be paid to combining the tasks of integrated control and prevention.

Harvesting: for altitudes below 100 metres, begin from the last ten days of September, for altitudes between 100 and 300 metres during the first ten days of October and for altitudes above 300 metres during the last ten days of October.

Concise definition of the geographical area:

Production regions for protected geographical designation Guanxi Mi You include the hills, plains, paddy fields and eyots below 500 metres altitude in 16 towns and villages in Pinghe County: Wenfeng Town, Shan’ge Town, Xiaoxi Town, Banzi Town, Nansheng Town, Wuzhai Village, Guoqiang Village, Anhou Town, Daxi Town, Xiazhai Town, Luxi Town, Qiling Village, Jiufeng Town, Changle Village, Xiufeng Village and Anhou Farm.

Specificity of the geographical area:

The place of origin of Guanxi Mi You comprises 16 towns and villages (farms) in Pinghe County in Fujian Province. This area has a south-Asian subtropical monsoon climate and is situated in a mountainous area just inland from the coast. The peak of the highest mountain in Pinghe County (Mount Daqin) is 1,544.8 metres above sea level. The terrain is high in the north-west and low in the south- east, with undulating hills. The soil mostly consists of hill red soil. The area has a unique climate. The annual average temperature is 18,5 to 21,3 °C, with the extreme highest temperature reaching 39,2 ° and the extreme lowest temperature 2,9 °C. The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is between 9,5 and 13,1 °C. The average temperature of the hottest month (July) is between 24,7 and 38,7 °C. The average annual accumulated temperature of days with averages higher than or equal to 10 °C is between 6 740 and 7 488 °C and the frost-free period is 315 to 322 days. The annual average precipitation is 1 664 to 1 938 mm, the relative humidity 80 to 82 % and the annual average daylight 1 758 to 1 852 hours.

The pomelo gardens at the place of origin in Pinghe County in Fujian Province are usually located on the lower reaches of the hills and the alluvial plains along the banks of rivers. The upper part of the hills is covered with forest with unpolluted air; the environment is very good. The soil in the pomelo gardens is a mix of red soil and rice soil. The soil layer is thick and has a pH value > 5,0 and an organic matter content ¥ 1,5 %. Because people fertilise the pomelo gardens with compost, stable manure, mushroom copro and many other organic fertilisers year after year, and because of the deep tillage, hole enlarging and green manure tilling, the pomelo gardens have become ecological fruit gardens with fertile, well-ventilated and loose soil which enable the trees to absorb fertiliser and moisture. The irrigating water comes from unpolluted mountain springs and streams.

Specificity of the product:

Each single Guanxi Mi You fruit weighs between 1,000 and 1,750 grams and is of an inverted oval shape with a flat top and a distinct circular marking around the tip. Its skin is smooth and its cells are cross-embedded with a minimum edible percentage of 55 %. Per 100 ml of juice, the minimum sugar content is 8,5 g and the maximum acid content 1,1 g. The fruit contains over 10 types of microelements that are essential for the human body.

Causal link between the geographical area

The growing area of Guanxi Mi You extends between 24,02 and 24,35 degrees north latitude and 116,53 and 117,31 degrees east longitude. This area has a south-Asian subtropical monsoon climate and is situated in a mountainous area just inland from the coast. The peak of the highest mountain in Pinghe County (Mount Daqin) is 1 544,8 metres above sea level. The terrain is high in the north-west and low in the south-east, with undulating hills. The soil mostly consists of hill red soil. The area has a unique climate.

The pomelo trees can bloom and bear fruit under an annual average temperature between 14,7 and 24 °C (18,5 to 21,3 °C in Pinghe County), an average temperature in January between 3 and 20 °C (9,5 to 13,1 °C in Pinghe County), an annual accumulated temperature of days with averages higher than or equal to 10 °C between 4 800 and 8 800 °C (6 740 to 7 488 °C in Pinghe County) and an absolute minimum temperature of 9 °C ( 2,9 °C in Pinghe County). They perform best in the middle of these temperature ranges. The temperature conditions in Pinghe County fit right into the preferred ranges; therefore, in terms of climate and ecology the area is most suitable for growing pomelo trees. Due to long-term growing under these ecological conditions, Guanxi Mi You from Pinghe County has a unique sweet-and-sour flavour.

The annual average precipitation in Pinghe County reaches 1 664 to 1 938 mm, which meets the requirements for normal growth of Guanxi Mi You. The annual sunshine totals 1 758 to 1 852 hours and most days between August and October are sunny, which is conducive to production and accumulation of sugar, acids and vitamins. All these factors contribute to the sweet-and-sour flavour.

As there are no polluting industries in Pinghe County, the air there is fresh and the water unpolluted, which safeguards the high quality of the products. The characteristic feature of the land is its thick layer of loose and fertile soil. A long history of planting Guanxi pomelo trees has developed a set of planting techniques covering soil conversion and fertility improvement, fertilisation, pruning, comprehensive prevention and control of disease and pest damage and timely harvesting in order to develop fully the characteristics of the fruit.

Reference: The European Reference

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