The year, told as a list.
Most catalogues are alphabetical. Ours is chronological. Below: every product we move, grouped by the season it is in. The harvest bar tells you where each crop sits in the twelve months — the orange band is the harvest window, the dark band is its peak, and the outlined cell is this week.
Spring — March to May
Strawberry and artichoke carry the spring. Green bean for the cool weeks. Fresh herbs from the Ismailia farms enter their first heavy cut. The Aswan hibiscus crop is harvested in March, dries through April, and the first containers of the new crop reach Rotterdam in May.
Fortuna, Festival and small-volume Sabrina, grown under Egyptian winter sun in the El-Bostan and Nubaria farms. Picked at brix 7.5 — 8.5 to survive the nine-day reefer to Rotterdam. Trial pallets fly weekly to Amsterdam. Season opens last week of January; this week we sail the last reefer.
Violetta di Chioggia and Spinoso Sardo from Wadi Natrun and Beheira. Cut at first light, hydro-cooled at the El-Hammam packhouse within four hours of harvest. The peak weeks are 18 — 21; this week, the season is at the top of its arc.
Helda flat and Nadia round, two main cuts: spring (weeks 11 — 21) and autumn (weeks 36 — 45). The spring cut is closing this weekend. From the El-Saadany farms in Sharqia, harvested in the cool of the evening, on the reefer by morning.
Early summer — June & July
The pivot of the year. Apricot opens in week 23, Medjool date opens mid-July, mango runs from Zebda through to Keitt. Hibiscus and molokhia begin their long arc. The strawberry wave is done; the dates and the stone fruit take over.
Hamawy first, Canino second. Five Bani Mazar growers in Minya and Assiut, all under one SMETA 4-pillar umbrella audited March 2026. First containers next week, peak weeks 24 — 27, season closes late July. We also do IQF apricot halves for a Frieslander confectioner.
Zebda from Ismailia opens the season; Keitt from Sharqia closes it. 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.
The leaf that grandmothers in Cairo and Den Haag both know by name. We cut from week 21 to week 35. Fresh for two Egyptian-grocer accounts in Amsterdam-West and Den Haag, IQF for restaurant suppliers in Brussels.
Clemson Spineless from the Beheira farms. Cut every 36 hours through July, August and into September. Fresh for the wholesale lines, IQF whole and IQF cut for industrial buyers in Belgium and Germany. Held at –22 °C for nine months.
High summer — August into September
Medjool peaks. Pomegranate begins. The summer is the long lever — every shipment goes against the heat, every load times around the cool of the evening at the packhouse. The Gdansk freeze-dry route runs hottest in these weeks.
Siwa oasis and Wadi farms. Premium-grade jumbo (24 — 27 g) for the Dutch organic chain, choice-grade (18 — 22 g) for industrial bar makers. First sort begins mid-July; the peak weeks are 33 — 38; we hold and ship through to the next harvest.
The deep-red karkadeh of Aswan and Qena. Harvested March, sun-dried six weeks, hand-graded, screened twice. Moisture 11 — 12 %, anthocyanin high. Ships from May through the autumn; we hold in Borg El Arab for European buyers who order monthly.
Autumn — September to November
Pomegranate is the autumn flagship. The second green bean cut. The seed potatoes go the other way — Spunta, Hermes and Lady Rosetta lifted from Friesland and Drenthe, loaded at Rotterdam, planted in the cool Egyptian autumn.
Wonderful and Manfalouty from Assiut and Manfalout. Fresh whole fruit weeks 37 — 47. The Hawamdiya processor extracts arils overnight and freezes within six hours; IQF arils ship from October through to May. A Dutch yoghurt account takes 14 t a month of IQF.
The Dutch arm of the year. Spunta, Hermes and Lady Rosetta lifted from HZPC (Friesland) and Agrico (Emmeloord). Containers leave Rotterdam in early August so the Beheira and Nubaria growers can plant in October. Plant passport NVWA, certified Class A seed.
Winter — December to February
Egypt grows when northern Europe cannot. The strawberry season opens late January, the artichoke late February. Greenhouse film and drip irrigation move the other way for the spring planting. Friesland dairy cultures move into the Egyptian buffalo-cheese co-ops.
The other half of the trade. UV-stabilised triple-layer film from the Eindhoven works; drip-tape from a Twente extruder; modular climate-control cabinets from a Westland integrator. Containers leave Rotterdam December and January for the Egyptian spring planting in February.
Single-strain and blended cultures from a Friesland fermenter, into Egyptian buffalo-cheese co-ops in Damietta and Kafr El Sheikh. Cold-chain freight at –18 °C, six-day air via Schiphol — Cairo cargo terminal. Monthly orders, twelve months of the year.
The twelve-month lines
Some things do not have a season. Fresh herbs are cut every week from Ismailia. Hybrid vegetable seed leaves the Westland in any month a buyer needs it. The freeze-dry route through Gdansk runs on the calendar of the buyer, not the calendar of the field.
Basil, dill, mint, parsley, coriander. The Farouk family in Salhia keeps the cut going year-round under tunnels. Air-freighted twice weekly into Schiphol; on the AH pallet line by mid-morning. Peak is May and the dark green of October.
From two Westland breeders, the seed that becomes the next Egyptian crop. Cucumber, tomato, sweet pepper, brassicas. Small parcels by air on the demand of a Cairo agronomist; bulk by sea container in the cool months.
The optional third arm. Fresh fruit and herbs from Egypt land at Gdansk, go straight to a Polish freeze-dry plant, exit as shelf-stable powder and slices to Dutch food-makers. Twelve-month flow, peak through the IQF off-season.