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The catalog

The list we will stand behind, season after season.

The lots in hand and the lots coming next. Each entry is the field, the cultivar, the pack format and the window. Sources named on the sourcing page; the arithmetic on about.

Section I · Lots 01 – 06

Fruit, fresh and frozen

01 Festival strawberry, fresh

The one the pastry chefs ask for

Fragaria × ananassa 'Festival' · El-Bostan farms, Beheira

Festival is the Egyptian winter strawberry — picked at first light, packed in 250 g punnets at the field, on the seven a.m. truck to Cairo cargo, in Schiphol by dawn the following day. The cultivar holds its acid further into ripeness than the more available Fortuna; the aroma carries a faint green-stem, white-pepper note that survives a chill cabinet.

For a pastry kitchen or a delicatessen counter. Eat one at room temperature against a Fortuna of the same Brix; the difference shows on the second mouthful.

Form: Fresh, 250 g punnet, 8 punnets / tray
Pack: 1 200 trays / 40ft reefer
Cert: EU Organic · GlobalG.A.P.
Season: Mid Nov — early May

Window now · air daily from CAI

02 Festival strawberry, IQF

The same fruit, individually frozen

Fragaria × ananassa 'Festival' · El-Bostan packhouse, Beheira

What does not go fresh, on the same day, goes into the freezing line at El-Bostan. The fruit is sorted by hand, blast-frozen on stainless belts at minus thirty, and the cell wall stays intact. We use it ourselves at the office for ice cream tests.

For dairy, sorbet, jam at scale, a confectioner's coulis. Macerate while still half-frozen for the cleanest extract.

Form: IQF, 10 kg poly bag, 4 bags / carton
Pack: 22 t / 40ft frozen reefer
Cert: EU Organic · BRCGS Food v9
Season: Year-round, packed Dec — May

In stock now · ex Damietta weekly

03 Globe artichoke, fresh

Heart of the spring season

Cynara cardunculus 'Violetta di Chioggia' · El-Hammam line, Wadi Natrun

Violetta di Chioggia and Spinoso Sardo grown under the same Egyptian sun that has been growing artichoke since the Pharaohs. Cut at first light, hydro-cooled at the Wadi Natrun packhouse before 11 a.m., on the reefer by Tuesday night. Heads firm, bracts tight, stems trimmed to the customer's spec.

For a Roman trattoria, a Dutch fine-dining kitchen, or the IQF freezer line at El-Bostan that runs every Tuesday and Friday.

Form: Fresh, 10 kg crate, 12 heads
Pack: 2 100 crates / 40ft reefer
Cert: EU Organic · Demeter (3 farms)
Season: Feb — May, peak Apr

Peak week now · reefer 9 d to RTM

04 Apricot, fresh

The next wave

Prunus armeniaca 'Hamawy' · Bani Mazar growers, Minya & Assiut

Hamawy first, Canino second. Five Bani Mazar growers under one SMETA 4-pillar umbrella. Season opens June, peak weeks 24 — 27, closes late July. Trial pallets on the Cairo air freighter for any single buyer who wants the first ripe ones in Amsterdam.

For a stone-fruit tart, a duck pairing, an apricot jam that holds its colour without acidulation.

Form: Fresh, 5 kg single layer
Pack: 3 600 trays / 40ft reefer
Cert: EU Organic · SMETA 4-pillar
Season: Jun — late Jul

Season opens June · first reefer of the wave

05 Keitt mango, fresh

The Ismailia late-season

Mangifera indica 'Keitt' · El-Badawi grove, Lake Timsah

Zebda from Ismailia opens the season in June; Keitt from Sharqia closes it in August. We run only single-grower lots to keep the Brix and dry-matter readable. A trial air-freight pallet ships to Westland in week 26; if the numbers hold, the reefer lane opens week 28 out of Alexandria.

For a fruit-bar at a market, a mango lassi behind a counter, the chutney shelf at a delicatessen.

Form: Fresh, 4 kg single layer, 6 / box
Pack: 1 800 boxes / 40ft reefer
Cert: EU Organic · GlobalG.A.P.
Season: Jun — Aug

Opens in 4 weeks · air 36 h trial · reefer 9 d

06 Medjool date

The Khalil cooperative, Siwa

Phoenix dactylifera 'Medjool' · Khalil cooperative, Siwa

Eleven Siwan families, 4 200 palms, organic since 2009. Demeter-certified in 2025. We hold a long-term contract for their jumbo grade and a shared-cost agreement on a sorting line the cooperative owns. They sell their domestic crop through it as well as our exports.

For a date-focused bakery, a fine-grocery shelf, a hotel breakfast that serves them whole.

Form: Whole, 5 kg bulk · 200 g retail
Pack: 4 t / 40ft dry container
Cert: EU Organic · Demeter
Season: Year-round, peak Sep — Nov

In stock now · weekly reefer ex ALY

Section II · Lots 07 – 08

Herbs and dried botanicals

07 Fresh herbs, mixed

Daily flight, Cairo to Amsterdam

Basil · dill · mint · flat-leaf parsley · Farouk family, Ismailia & Salhia

Cut at first light on the day of flight, brought to Cairo cargo by 14:00, on the MartinAir freighter out of CAI by 21:00, on the AMS pallet line Thursday 06:40. Boxed for Albert Heijn private label and three regional wholesalers. The herb that arrives is younger than the one a buyer can source through any inland trader.

For a kitchen that minces basil at lunchtime and serves it at dinner. For a salad-bar programme that uses parsley by the kilo.

Form: Fresh, 50 g sleeve, 24 sleeves / box
Pack: 1.8 t / pallet · 4 pallets / freighter
Cert: EU Organic · GlobalG.A.P.
Season: Year-round

Daily flight · CAI → AMS 36 h

08 Hibiscus, dried

Solar-dried on the Nile floodplain

Hibiscus sabdariffa 'Sudanese' · Hassanein farms, Aswan & Qena

Solar-dried on raised racks above the floodplain for ten to fourteen days, sorted by colour, sacked in 20 kg polypropylene. The crop has been organic since the late 2000s, on a regime so traditional that the certifier wrote the audit in a single visit. The colour is the difference: a deep crimson that stays in the cup.

For a tea blender who works with herbalists, a soft-drink line that needs natural colour, a confectioner who pairs it with stone fruit.

Form: Whole calyx, 20 kg sack
Pack: 10 t / 40ft dry container
Cert: EU Organic
Season: Year-round, harvest Aug — Nov

In stock now · monthly reefer ex ALY

Section III · Lots 09 – 10

Vegetables, fresh and IQF

09 Green bean, fresh

Helda flat & Nadia round, two cuts a year

Phaseolus vulgaris 'Helda', 'Nadia' · El-Saadany farms, Sharqia

Two main cuts: spring weeks 11 — 21, autumn weeks 36 — 45. Picked in the cool of the evening to avoid the heat, brought to Damietta cold-store by midnight, on the reefer Saturday morning. The pause through the summer heat is by design, not by neglect.

For a side-vegetable programme that pays for quality at lunch, a green-bean almondine on a restaurant menu, a preserving line at scale.

Form: Fresh, 5 kg loose case
Pack: 3 600 cases / 40ft reefer
Cert: EU Organic · GlobalG.A.P.
Season: Spring wk 11–21, autumn wk 36–45

Spring cut closing · weekly reefer ex DAM

10 Molokhia, IQF

The leaf that grandmothers in Cairo and Den Haag both know

Corchorus olitorius · Ibrahim farm, Fayoum & Nile delta partners

Cut weekly from week 21 through week 35. Fresh for two Egyptian-grocer accounts in Amsterdam-West and Den Haag; IQF for restaurant suppliers in Brussels. The leaf is cut before noon, blanched within the hour, on the freezing line by 14:00. The dish that wins after the audit is the one that uses it.

For an Egyptian restaurant in Holland, an Egyptian-grocer freezer, a frozen-foods importer who knows the difference between fresh-cut and the dry-leaf alternative.

Form: IQF whole leaf, 1 kg bunch · 10 / case
Pack: 22 t / 40ft frozen reefer
Cert: EU Organic
Season: Cut wk 21 — 35, IQF year-round

In peak now · weekly reefer ex DAM

Ten lots on the desk today. The list grows slowly.

What is not here either has not earned a place yet, or has been taken off, for now. The catalog moves with the year. Lots leave the list when their season closes; new lots arrive on the page when their season opens.

For a sample, a price, or a question about a lot that is not on the page, write to the desk.