Valfrutta is a household name in Italy when it comes to processed foods like juices, tomato paste and conserved vegetables, but in recent years the firm has expanded aggressively into fresh crops, ranging from pears to clementines to zucchini. According to Stefano Soli, the company's marketing director for the fresh category, Italian growers have historically found it difficult to garner the quantity necessary for exports of their high quality produce. However, during Fruit Logistica in Berlin he told www.freshfruitportal.com about plans to make a new sweet pepper variety a signature brand in the export market.

Soli admits he's not the biggest fan of bell peppers, but his company has the exclusive rights for production of a unique variety called 'Cornelio' in Europe, which was developed by Dutch company Enza Zaden.

"I don't eat peppers anyway, but I do eat this. It's very versatile in the kitchen," he says.

"This is a pepper from the Italian tradition that is in the shape of a bull horn, which Enza Zaden bred to obtain a pepper with very particular characteristics.

"The first characteristic is that it's very sweet, and the second is that the skin is very subtle and thin, so it's easy to digest."

He says the variety, whose name derives from the Italian word for horn 'corno',  is currently produced on 30-35 hectares of land near Vittoria in southern Sicily.

"But our project will have 150 hectares in three years...the other thing that is very interesting is that it's 100% Italian and can be grown for 12 months of the year with continuity.

"This is a very attractive product because it would be the right project to launch for export. For the moment obviously we're looking at Europe but they are doing some tests to lengthen its shelf life so that in the future we'll be able to export to further countries.

"The purpose is that this will become the Italian bell pepper. So you can find Californian, Dutch or Spanish bell peppers, but now we can really have this kind of pepper from Italy for the European market."

He says the company is already exporting Cornelio peppers to Denmark, and has been in contact with potential buyers from Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

In conjunction with its promotions, Valfrutta has also prepared recipes for the Cornelio peppers on its website.

www.freshfruitportal.com