Rich in vitamin C and refreshingly tart, the lemon enjoys great popularity in this country, especially in the cold season. While the yellow fruit grows mainly in southern regions such as Spain and Italy, the exotic citrus fruit has recently also been available from Münchendorf in selected BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland.
BILLA CEO Elke Wilgmann is enthusiastic about the local exotics in the assortment: "I am very pleased to see how much courage and creativity our Austrian farmers have. Together with them we are able to bring more and more local exotics like the lemon from Münchendorf onto our shelves.
Vegetable farmer Christian Zeiler, who is already the third generation to run the family business with its headquarters in Münchendorf, has specialised mainly in growing tomatoes since 2003. Since then, he has been supplying the BILLA family with fresh tomatoes from his own cultivation 365 days a year. Due to a free space in the greenhouse, he decided to buy lemon trees last year and brought 1,300 young trees from Sicily. This year, the first lemons could be harvested by hand on home soil. "The trees are still relatively young and have to grow first. The yield increases with each year," says Christian Zeiler.
Since the lemon tree is a heat-loving plant, the lemon trees move into the greenhouse for the winter months before the first frost. "In the winter quarters, we can store the plants frost-free at ten degrees and water them," explains Thomas Zopf, who is in charge of sales, adding: "As soon as the untreated fruits turn slightly yellow, they are harvested and then ripen, covered at room temperature."
BILLA expands exotic assortment
The BILLA regional brand "Da komm' ich her!" offers not only "classic" Austrian fruit and vegetables from the regions for the regions, but also numerous exotics. This year, for example, we have already succeeded in offering Kiwano from Burgenland, and now lemons from Münchendorf will follow. "For us, regionality does not only mean offering conventional products from Austria. Together with our agricultural partners, we also bring home many exotic products. In addition to ginger, watermelon, sweet potatoes, figs, physalis and goji berries, small quantities of lemons from Austrian cultivation were available for the first time last November. Our regional range is thus constantly being expanded," says Elke Wilgmann.
