Tasting the year: mangoes, avocados and chirimoyas on the coast

Ask people what the Granada and Málaga coast tastes of and most will say the sea. Give it a year and the trees start to make their case: the first mangoes in September, avocados from November, chirimoyas through the winter. This is that year, and what it means to own a finca with fruit trees on it.

Why the coast can grow tropical fruit

A wall of mountain runs parallel to the sea here, the Sierras Penibéticas, and it keeps the cold northerly winds off the shore. The land faces south, so the sun has a long run at it, and winters stay mild, with a typical low of 3 to 6 °C. Between Salobreña and Nerja the annual average sits between 16.8 and 19.1 °C. The chirimoya zone takes in about 85 km of coast, from Cabo Sacratif at Motril to the mouth of the Vélez river.

Summer is the risk. In the 2014–15 season high temperatures brought chirimoya ripening forward by about ten days, and many fruits came out small. The Consejo Regulador gives summer highs of 32 to 37 °C for the zone, and heat, more than cold, is what growers plan around.

The year on the trees

The year starts with mango in September. Tommy Atkins comes first, then Kent from mid-September to mid-October, Osteen in October and Keitt from mid-October to late November. Those are the weeks when a market stall smells of ripe fruit and the summer is finally on its way out.

Avocado starts in November with Bacon, and Hass takes over in December. In recent campaigns Hass has been ready for market from about mid-November, with Fuerte, Zutano and Ettinger picked in the first weeks. Buy an avocado from a farm gate in the valley and it will be riper, and cheaper, than the one in the supermarket.

Chirimoya is the long season. It usually runs until March, and fruit from Motril waits less for rain than fruit from Almuñécar does. The trees are timed by flowering: a flowering in May or June gives an autumn harvest, and one in August or September gives a spring crop. Pollination is done by hand.

Loquat, the níspero, is the spring fruit. It is picked from April on the lowest sites, reaches full harvest in June and is finished by July. Papaya, lychee and passion fruit grow here too, in much smaller amounts, and their seasons vary from farm to farm, so ask at the stall.

The chirimoya name, and how to spot it

The protected name «Chirimoya de la Costa Tropical de Granada-Málaga» dates from Orden APA/3120/2002, signed on 27 November 2002 and published in the BOE on 11 December that year. It covers fifteen municipalities: ten in Granada, including Motril, Salobreña, Almuñécar and Jete, and five in Málaga, namely Nerja, Frigiliana, Torrox, Algarrobo and Vélez-Málaga.

The fruit must be the Fino de Jete variety, and only fruit graded Extra or I can carry the name. It is picked by hand, packed within 24 hours and must test above 17 °Brix. The 2002 order also allowed Campas, but the later application summary and the Consejo's own page name only Fino de Jete.

Where to taste it

In season, fruit is sold at town markets and at farm gates along the valley roads above Almuñécar and Motril, and a Saturday morning spent working through them is well spent. The Consejo Regulador is based in Almuñécar, and its website lists the registered packing houses. Chirimoya sold under the name is packed in those houses within the zone, so ask a seller to show you the label.

Fino de Jete is sweet, with a balancing acidity and white flesh. Its seeds sit in the segments, so they do not come away cleanly, and the name covers fruit for eating fresh. Eat it chilled, with a spoon, on a terrace in the late afternoon.

If you buy a finca with fruit trees

Owning a finca with trees changes your calendar. You learn the year by what is on the branches: the mango in September, avocado picking in the winter months, the chirimoya flowers you pollinate by hand. It also makes water the first question rather than the last. Growers use localised irrigation on slopes and flood-type irrigation on flat land, so ask which system the plot has and where its water comes from.

Water has long limited new planting. A 2018 trade article put it bluntly: a lack of water stops more planting. A 2021 article found no irrigation shortage at Motril, while Almuñécar leaned on autumn rain and avocado depended on water allocations for the Axarquía from October. Those are statements about those years, so ask about the rules as they stand today.

Waterlogging is the other danger. Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soil fungus that causes root rot in avocado, and it is worst in waterlogged plots and heavy soils. Excess moisture causes root rot in chirimoya too, so a plot that floods after rain is a warning sign, not a bargain.

Once the water is in order and the soil drains, a finca with fruit trees gives you a year you can taste.