The Spanish citrus paradise loved by the UK’s top chefs
Honeyed, tart, briny, aromatic – citrus is so much more than just sour. We explore a Valencian citrus foundation home to hundreds of rare varieties, and look at how chefs are weaving them into their menus.
The Spanish citrus paradise loved by the UK’s top chefs
Honeyed, tart, briny, aromatic – citrus is so much more than just sour. We explore a Valencian citrus foundation home to hundreds of rare varieties, and look at how chefs are weaving them into their menus.
With long days of balmy sunshine, a gentle sea breeze and intense humidity, Valencia, on Spain’s east coast, has long been a haven for citrus groves. Vibrant lemon, lime and orange orchards (including those of its most famous Valencia Orange) have flourished there since as far back as the fourteenth century, remaining at the heart of its culture since and contributing significantly to Spain's title as the world's biggest exporter of citrus. While that demand may be profitable, it also means that varieties which are prized by supermarkets (including ours; many of the oranges and grapefruits that fill our shelves come from the region) are farmed more intensively, risking the loss of rare, heritage fruits. That's something Vicente Todolí wants to reverse. Head an hour down the coast, into the small town of Palmera, and you'll find his Todolí Citrus Foundation, a lush citrus sanctuary working to research, protect and promote niche varieties.
At Todolí there are over five hundred types of citrus fruit grown across 45,000 square metres, mostly made up of lesser-known kinds like the fragrant Borneo lumia (a mix of lemon, pomelo and papeda) and the sweet Valentine pomelo (a cross between a blood orange and mandarin), as well as the more familiar, like calamansi, a small, sour fruit native to the Philippines. There are forty Japanese kinds alone (these are among Vicente's favourites), including the satsuma-like Kiyomi Tangor. Almost all are hybrids; though we might think we can identify citrus by its look, or taste, it's rarely that simple – they hybridise easily, leading to hundreds of natural and man-made crosses with a rainbow of aromas and flavours (calamansi is sometimes called the Philippine lime or lemon, but is actually a mix of the kumquat and the mandarin orange). There are few people who understand those nuances better than Vicente, a fifth generation citrus specialist who initially eschewed the family business in favour of the arts, working around the world and spending seven years as the director of the Tate Modern.
‘It all started with my great-great-grandfather,' he explains. 'I was the only member of the family that decided not to pursue that and went into art instead.' It was renowned chef Ferran Adrià – of the now-closed, world-best restaurant El Bulli – that nudged him back to his roots. The pair met in the 1990s, but collaborated on Ferran’s 2009 Food For Thought, Thought For Food book, for which they visited a citrus farm. ‘I saw these huge greenhouses where they had hundreds of varieties of citrus planted in pots,’ Vicente says. ‘I wondered how it was possible they couldn't grow citrus there and had to do it in greenhouses. Valencia is the land of citrus. And Ferran said ‘why don’t you do it yourself then?’
So he did, setting out initially to create a private collection, home to no more than fifty varieties. But after learning of a plan to develop land in his childhood home, he was spurred on to create something bigger, buying the land of twenty-eight neighbours and transforming what had been largely abandoned farms into the early days of a citrus foundation, with a goal of preserving the region’s heritage. He delved into citrus research, discovering its historic links with Asia, importance in Greek mythology and eventual wider culinary use, and learning through trial and error where different fruits flourished. Today, twelve years on, the foundation is verdant and thriving, attracting chefs and food-lovers from around the world to wander through its groves and unlock the huge range of flavours in guided tastings. There's a laboratory where the team experiments with fruit and essential oils, a specialised library and a museum home to citrus art prints and installations. Soon, that will all be joined by an aviary for songbirds that have traditionally been linked to Valencian citrus groves, but which have been put at risk by herbicides and insecticides; they'll be bred there, before being released into the wild.
As the foundation blossomed, word spread. Mediterranean bar and restaurant Toklas in London was the first in the country to use its citrus in its menus; today, it hosts Vicente for tastings and runs dedicated Todolí-inspired feasts (including a week of events with the foundation in February to celebrate the season). Since then, Toklas has been joined by an all-star list of London restaurants; Tomos Parry’s Brat and Mountain, three-star The Ledbury, Ikoyi, Clove Club, St John, Cadet, Dorian and Lyle’s (among dozens of others). For Toklas head chef Chris Shaw, Todolí unlocks a new world of potential. ’It’s such a privilege to work with lesser-known varieties that have more interesting flavour profiles – we can use much more nuanced levels of sweetness and acidity in different dishes which is so much fun to play around with,’ he says. ‘Citrus is such a versatile ingredient for us because it plays into the hands of both sweet and savoury recipes, helping us balance things out.’
Chris points to the likes of pane citron and Amalfi pane lemons as among his favourites, as well as the slightly saline clam limes. All the fruits are weaved into Toklas dishes, fresh when the season is right – it starts in October, peaking in February, with later varieties emerging in June – and preserved when it's not. ‘Previously we had sea bass crudo with finger lines which was a very popular dish,’ Chris says. ‘Right now we have a Todolí citrus and fennel salad, Monkfish crudo with rosemary, chilli and clam lime, Sanguinelli orange sorbet and kumquat and hazelnut tart.’
Vicente's days of galleries and museums might be in the past, but his appreciation of art remains at the heart of his work at Todolí; for him, the two are linked. His deep understanding of citrus and rounded celebration of it in every aspect is a labour of love, one that, thanks to London's brightest chefs, we get to experience.
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