Although the season to find the genuine Herbón Peppers comprises normally from May to October (reducing from June to October if the farming is open air) the work of the partners of the S.A.T. A Pementeira expands alongthe whole year: it starts with the section of the new seed, it continues with the farming on the seedbeds and it ends with the harvesting. This way, when one harvesting season has not finished yet, the works for obtaining good results in the following one have already started.
In general terms, the cycle of the pepper is as follows:
1. Obtaining the seed: each partner selects the best plants of every harvest, and gets the seed for the following campaign by hand, completing the cycle this way.
2. Next step is drying the seed to lose its humidity (lasting 2-4 days). This process is fundamental to its good preservation.
3. October is the month selected to prepare the soil and make the seedbeds for the green houses. January of the following year is the time to make the seedbeds in the open air.
4. Transplanting plants to their definitive location. In the green houses this process is done in February and March, but in the open air we preferably choose May and June.
5. After this the raising of the temperatures during summer months, regular watering and appropriate care will do the rest.
Harvesting is done when the physical, chemical and organoleptic properties adjust to optimal values. In normal climatic conditions during summer this normally happens every 2-3 days.
In this phase of the project resides the essence of the Herbón-Padrón Pepper, as it is performed by farmers with the five senses; touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste.
Manual selection is determined by touch and sight.
In a more strict selection we focus our hearing, those too crunchy are discarded, then, with the smell if they smell too spicy, and finally with taste, trying them (we fry some peppers to be sure of their quality).
When the harvest is finished defective ones or those under our quality standards are discarded. After that a more thorough selection is performed, cleaning leaves, rests of broken stalks, flowers, etc. so that only I Category peppers remain to be packed or to go directly to the market.
Partners peppers packaging fulfils and guarantees traceability, securing control by maintaining typical “Herbón Peppers” characters to keep their quality, accomplishing with the geographical area marked out as established by our association. Packaging is performed in different bag types as needed.
From orchard to market", as soon as possible and "From producer to consumer”, are mottos which reflect our philosophy of life.
The fact that the pepper is a perishable product makes them to alter in a short period of time.
Transport, storage and handling in the production place as soon as possible, with a short period of commercialization, is one of our main objectives, introducing the product in the cold chain if necessary, without breaking it later, guaranteeing peppers preservation during the whole process from orchard to the final consumer.