In February, I travelled to the United States, Mexico and Peru to visit our partners and see for myself how the season is developing. Three countries in nine days, six flights and quite a few kilometres on the road. Intensive, but very valuable. By being in the fields and following the process up close, you get a realistic view of production, quality and planning for the weeks ahead.

After years of dedication to delivering exotic products, we are proud to introduce Saborichi® - our new fruit and vegetable brand with an even deeper connection tot he people, places, and stories behind our products. Saborichi® is more than just a brand; it is a promise. At Saborichi®, we believe that every flavor has a story. It is a celebration of the people, places, and traditions that bring exceptional quality to your table.

"My journey started in Requinoa, two hours south of Santiago. Here are the fields of our 'Champion' quinces. The orchard is located next to the Andes mountains and is divided into two parts. One suitable for Europe (larger fruits) and one for the USA (smaller fruits). A part of the trees for the European market is pruned before fruiting so that the remaining fruits get all the energy and therefore grow larger."

"The prices of papayas are a lot higher than a few years ago, according to Stefan Warbout of Bud Holland. "This is mainly due to the high air freight costs of recent times, which make the product a lot more expensive. Fortunately, we see that the demand does not decrease due to the higher prices, it remains the same or even increases slightly." Bud imports both the Golden papayas and Formosa papayas from Brazil and the so-called 'cooking papaya' from Thailand. This green, unripe papaya is not used as a fruit, but rather as a vegetable in Thai salads, such as Som Tum.

In addition to our well-known sun-dried tomatoes from Sud'n'Sol, we now also have other sunbathed creations from Sud'n'Sol in our range. Sud'n'Sol products are only prepared with fresh, premium vegetables. They are carefully sliced, candied or grilled (or a combination of both techniques) and then blended with refined vegetable oils and fresh aromatic herbs with Mediterranean flavors. Enjoy the pure, authentic flavours, prepared in the South of France.

In 1975 Jerome and Diane Vick left their full-time jobs to start work on the 25-hectare farm where Jerome’s grandfather Olaud Vick had raised his family of six. With endless determination and a strong work ethic, they became successful farmers whose farmland has grown to over 7,000 acres.

Bud Holland has again achieved the internationally recognized quality standard 'IFS Food Level 7 Higher Level' for next year. With a beautiful score of 98.10%, we are extremely proud and, moreover, grateful for everyone's efforts. Bud Holland customers can count on products of perfect quality every day of the year. The highly advanced ERP system also enables Bud Holland to guarantee the traceability and food safety of the products.

White garlic bulbs, yellow onions and limes are placed in the oven for 3 weeks and fermented through a carefully controlled heating process. Due to this fermentation process, the sugars and amino acids form melanoidin, which makes the products black and soft. The heating process releases more healthy antioxidants. Its soft, jelly-like texture and rich taste make it great to eat as an ingredient or simply as a healthy snack.

If everything goes according to plan, we will receive the first Clean Kiwis next Monday. The sizes are a bit disappointing this year, which means that we will not receive large sizes, but mainly the sizes 27, 30 and 33. Fortunately, the quality and taste are no less! Both the plant and the fruit of this kiwi variety are untreated.

"A few weeks ago we have expanded our range with rainbow radish and micro radish." says Wanja Engbergen. "These colorful radishes can really brighten up the plate and shelf and are very tasty. The radishes are sown and harvested by experienced people at our grower. Then the radishes are bunched by hand so that we can be sure that the quality is perfect and the radish arrives undamaged at our customers."

This week, kiwano's from New Zealand have arrived at the Bud Holland warehouse. It does not happen very often anymore that this exotic is flown in, because in general kiwanos are brought in from more nearby countries.

Many people love mango: delicious in ice cream, a smoothie or simply cut into cubes. Yet it often turns out to be difficult to cut this exotic fruit.

During the lockdown at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Bud Holland was also left with a surplus of products and used this creatively to prevent our beautiful products from disappearing in the trash bin.