Hendrick's now producing Solerno, a "Blood Orange Liqueur"

Vitamins, antioxidants and precious micronutrients can all be found a single fruit, oranges, and esp…

Vitamins, antioxidants and precious micronutrients can all be found a single fruit, oranges, and especially in blood Sicilian oranges, which have become well known in the sports, film and spirits industry.

Therefore Hendrick's, one of the most famous liqueur companies in the world, decided to produce the "Blood Orange Liqueur", a distillate of Sicilian blood oranges. The product is a hit in the US: barmen can use it as a base or in a wide range of cocktails and beverages.

Alessandro Scuderi, chairman of the Consortium for the safeguard of Sicilian blood oranges, explained how "PGI blood oranges, the symbol of our island, have been chosen thanks to our marketing activities."

But the choice of the Scottish multinational company will also have the effect of "making consumers think about Sicily thanks to our blood oranges. Such achievement means that blood oranges are an element on which to count on for big brands too, which can now pass from global to local strategies, a new term that puts together the the words global and local, with the aim of being different and making business with benefits in terms of image, tourism and economy."

The blood orange has become a celebrity, and is also appreciated by famous actors and top models such as Naomi Campbell and Gerard Depardieu. "Actors, politicians and sportsmen have all become eager consumers and they are also willing to buy on-line in order to have PGI blood oranges available. They chose this product because of its unique taste and for the presence of anthocyanins, which prevent cells from oxidising and inhibit the accumulation of fat, so it is in fact a nutraceutical product."

In addition to this, Umberto Veronesi and the scientific community have presented a project in which the therapeutic characteristics of PGI blood oranges are confirmed. At the moment, the Sanguinello variety is being harvested, the mainly seed-free red pulp cultivar, which is really juicy. This year was rather good in marketing terms, with production and wholesale prices both higher than average because of lower stocks.

The chairman of the Consortium confirmed that, "the quality is excellent, with good levels of pigmentation even if the season was delayed because the cold weather arrived late. As regards prices, they range from €0.40/kg for producers, to €0.70-0.90/kg for wholesalers and to €1.20-1.40/kg for consumers."

The production is mainly destined to Italy (85%), even though this year exports have increased by 40%, reaching markets such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden. There was an increased interest from Great Britain, Belgium and Norway and even in far away countries such as Japan and the United States.